THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN.

BSrPeaeoels, M.ffi.fl., at Ponsontoy.

Pitesttast to notice, Mr Thomas Peacock, M.H.R., candidate for Ponsonby, met and addressed the electors of that constituency last, night in tho Ponsonby Hall. T-h,o building was crowded to excess, those at the end of the hall standing four or five deep. Seats upon the platform were occupied by the Rev. J. Campbell, Messrs D. B. McDonald, J. Arnritage, M. McDermott, Crs. D. F. Evans and Swales, Messrs E. B. Parsons, E. Hornsby, P: Oliphant, W. J. Bees, Dutton, Wooliield, G. W. Owen, S. E. Hngbes, J. H. Field, E. T. Dufaur, Elkin, J. Palmer, D. Gouk, and Captain Payne.

An elector moved that Mr W. J. Courtney should take the chair, while Mr P. Oliphant proposed an amendment to the effect that Mr D. B. McDonald should preside.

There were, however, determined calls for "Courtney" from, the audience, 'and that gentleman responded by proceeding to the platform, and taking the chair. The Chairman, in introducing the busi ness of the evening; reminded them that the present was a very important stage in the history of the colony, and it therefore behoved everyone to take an interest in the welfare of the country. He asked them to give Mr Peacock a patient hearing. He >vas -well-known to them. (A voice; " Too "well-known.") They would have tho oppor tunity of putting1 questions to Mr Peacock at the close of his address, and in the-mean-, time he asked them to hear tho views of the candidate fairly and patiently. Mr Peacock was received with a round of applause. He began by saying that tho election of a new Parliament called forth the active interest of the people at iftVgßj %nd properly so, for in no previous election had there been such need of vigilant and intel ligent interest on the part of tho country. He had lost no time upon learning how his district had been treated by the Repre sentation Boundary Commissioners in decid ing to stand for the Ponsonby portion of it now erected in(,o a separate electoral, dis trict. Tho first subject upon which ho pro posed to speak that evening was this sub ject of Tne New Representation Bill. Under it tho North Island was entitled to three additional members, and these re quired to be deducted from the number hitherto possessed by the South Island. It was intended to allocate the representation according to population, but it was not disguised by sonic of tho Southern members that they were unfavourable to the North Island receiving that justice which had been agreed upon, and which they themselves had en joyed under the previous Representation Act of 1881. The new Act ought to havo been, and would have been, passed in the session of last year but for the unseemly conduct pf the Government, about one half of the members of which wont into tho lobby to vote against the bill. It was pointed Qivfc at tho time that it was unwise to leave the passing of such a measure to the last session of a dying Parliament, as by doing1 so it would ba exposed to all sorts 'of contingencies which would endanger its safe passage through the House. But nil such warnings were in vain. The bill was shelved. When it was re-introduced .in tho late session some discussion took pla.e upot) the desirability of modifying the population basis for country districts, while there was also a feeling in favour of a reduction in the number of members. He was him self desirous of seeing a reduction effected to something like 80, but by the mannor jLii "which the voting was taken lie did not have the opportunity of bringing that number into the bill. The Premier stated at the outlet that he was not in favour of any alteration in the number of members. In committee, therefore,; he proposed that 91 should be the number inserted in the blank left for the purpose. Another mem ber proposed 60, and upon the smaller num ber being rejected it was agreed to work gradually up to the number that would meet the views of tho ■ Honge. The next number proposed Avas 71, and it was carried by a small majority. Although this was rather, less than he ex pected, he was prepared to accept it. The ± J'rcini.or at tirst announced that he also would loyally abide by the resolution, but afterwards, under hidden pressure, he pro posed the recommital of the bill in order to insert the larger number. It therefore became a question of accepting this alterna tive or going to the country under the old bill, by'which the North Island would not have received its increase of three members. There were, too, several disadvantages in connection with a too great reduction of the number, of niembers. For instance, if the number had been reduced to about 71, Tauranga and Waipa would have become one electorate, the consequence being that the member who represented it would have had a constituency oxtendingfrom Port Wai kato, on the West Coast, to the East Cape. It would be a most difficult matter for any representative to keep himself in touch -with such a wide constituency by visiting the various portions at regular internals. Besides, it would be a most costly thing to seek the suffrages of so scattered a body of electors with interests so divqrse. There was likewise the additional drawback that a small House would be an insufficient check upon the Ministry of the day. In this connection he felt impelled to take notice of a statement made by the Minister of Justice in his recent address to his con stituents. Mr Tole had said, "He was reluctant to take praise to the Government, bufa his audience must admit that the Ministry had worked boldly and earnestly in carrying through the "Representation Bill." He was quite ready to admit' that this might be said of the Premier and the Minister of Justice, but he took ex ception to its application to the rest of the Ministry. He had already indi cated what took place on the matter in th,e House of Representatives last session, arid he would now explain what happened in tho Legislative Council. When the bill came up for its second reading, the Council was favourable to putting it through in all its stages. But as soon as it had passed its pecondt reading, tho Minister in charge objected to carry it any further at that time, although urged to do so. He said "No ;•"' and declared his intention of keeping it backfill the following day, without . assigning any reason. Thereupon Dr. Pollen took up the bill, and \h passed its final stage by 21 to 14. The Minister was thus, defeated, and the Government had the humiliation of seeing a private member take up their own bill after they had dropped it, and secure its passage through all its stages. Comment was needless. He hoped that in other matters for which the Govern ment took credit, they would be more worthy of it, He now proposed to speak of the

Financial Condition of the Colony,

and the means proposed to extricate us from our serious position. Beiore the House met it was known that our revenue had fallen off considerably in some of the leading sources-notably, the Customs and Railway Departments, and as a consequence the Financial Statement was looked for ward to with unusual interest. It was found that the income was less by £192,000 than the Colonial Treasurer's estimate, and but for a windfall of £104,000 which was re ceived from the Sinking Fund Commission ers the deficiency would have been close on £300,000 for the year. The expenditure had been somewhat less than was estimated by reason of several sums of money which were voted for particular services not being emended. These brought the deficiency down to £92,000, but if we considered the fact that that £104,000 received • irom the Sinking Fund Oominisgionerji, ami quite properly pub into the Qonsolidti^d :swd, was not revenue in any ordinary sense,

we should see thai by taking it away from the Sinking ITuad wq increased the neb balance of our debb by a cor responding amount. We therefore got £197,000. Then again there were some sums of money to local bodies in excess of the balance of the pre vious year, which were not paid. They amounted to £9,000, and this brought the total.up to £205,000. In order to enable his audience to realise our true position, he reminded them of the change since Sir Julius Vogel took command of the Treasury. When that great financial doctor took charge of his patient three years ago, he assured her that he would effect an easy and permanent cure ; but, despite these assur ances, the patient steadily got worse. Again she was baoyed up with fresh hopes of reco very. But, feeling at last that she was getting no better, she _ com pared her condition with what it had been when the doctor took charge. That was what he wan asking them to do that night. In ISS4 the Government brought in"a bill by which they were enabled to ap propriate'the Sinking Fund by providing that it should be borrowed each year. Had they been required to iind .that £250,000 a year out of ordinary revenue.the deficiency would have been increased by that amount. In 1885 the Government brought in a measure to relieve the Consoli dated Fund by £60,000 a year by throw ing the cost of hospitals and charitable aid upon the local bodies, who would require to raise trie needful means by taxation, so that the burthen was merely shifted to other shoulders. But for that change this £60,000 would also have had to be aefded to the deficiency. Then, too, the Constabulary Fund,which had been charged against revenue, was now charged against loan. If wo added these things up, the de ficiency last year—excluding the £104,000 from the Sinking Fund-would have been upwards of half a million of money. lie had already shown them that without taking into account these changes the real deficiency for the past ' year was quite £205,000. Now J was it reasonable that the Government should try to make up a large sum like this by additional tuxation, without the Go vernment offering to secure a substantial reduction in the public expenditure I and yet the Government brought down a Financial Statement proposing additional taxation to the extent of £2/5,000. | It was true they proposed to meet j the cry for economy by reducing the salaries'of civil servants by from 3to 7k per cent, and their oavu salaries by a paltry 7.V per cent;, which would be equal to about {£95 each. They also made a decrease of £150,000 on the Estimates for this year; but when 'this matter was examined, it was found that nearly half the whole sum was made up of exceptional votes, which it was not required to repeat this year, as, for in stance : Census returns, property tax valua tions, Colonial Exhibition, Tarawera erup tion, find so on. Then again, there was the reduction of the subsidies to. local, bodies by £75,000, a considerable sum of which would come in relief of the present year. (A voice: ," What did Atkiiwon do ?")' And yet the Premier said, "It would certainly have been1' im possible for any Government to frame the Estimates with a greater ', regard to economy or a more lively sense of the good old maxim, 'Economy is itself an income.' ;> Was it any wonder that the House refused to have their tariff, and insisted upon rigid retrenchment . Our credit had boon seriously shaken in the London market, -which was indubitably shown by the fact that our lust loan was only subscribed ;V trifle in excess of „ the demand, while the price at which it was taken up was only L97 15^, or L 2 15s below par. This L 2 15s, small though it seemed, represented a sum of L 43,000, und as compared with the rates recently paid by other colonies for loans, the difference to oui1 disadvantage was as much as LBO.OOO. Retrenchment. He was surprised to iind the Premier saying the other clay at Dunedin that the Government was not responsible for the votes of tho Legislative Department. But those votes were included in the Estimates, and the Government could rot escape re sponsibility for them. If the Governm3nt would only energetically take np this matter of retrenchment in the Civil Service, they would find out that where there is a will there is' a way. Commencing with the Governor, the salary should be reduced for future Governors to £5,000 per annum ; Ministers' salaries should be reduced by £250 each, and the number of Ministers should be reduced by at lewst one, if not two, while very great economy should be exercised in their travelling expenses. (Applause.) To reduce all round and not touch tho members' honorariums would bo v sham. He had always voted for a reduction in that direction. (A voice :" No.") And those who spoke so grandiloquently of such a reduction being an invasion of the rights of the people had more concern for their own pockets than for those rights. While an honorarium should be given it should be only sufficient to recoup any working man who might be elected to Par liament for giving up his business and go ing to Wellington. He would be in favour of thehonorarium beingreducedto the old limit of £100, but as that, he felt sure,would not be carried, he thought £150 would be amply sufficient, and £100 formembers living with in 10 miles of Wellington. The Legislative Council should be reduced to 30 members, and those coming from a distance should bo content with £100 per annum, while £50 was enough for those living within the ten-mile radius.

Education,

He had always been in favour of our educational system,and he would be the last man who would seek to destroy it. Still, He did not agree with the Premier when he declared that no reduction could be made. He believed the system could be reduced in co.-sfc without at all endangering its stability. The Cost of education of all kinds was last year £549.000,''0f which £40,000 was re couped by fees in secondary schools. £55,000 had'been spent upon buildings, and as this .amount was charged to tho Public Works Fund it came out of the loan. 'Die income from endowments producod £73,000, so that £378,000 had to come out of revenue for educational purposes. " Trie could not see why the school age should not be raised to seven years. (Cries of " No.") Our children would lose nothing- by it. The number under that age was 21,024, and these at £4 per head represented a sum of £84,0!Ki, which might be saved. The 4th standard could also be made the limit, but the f>th and Oth could be retained for .scholarship pupils and for those whose parents were willing to pay for their children's instruction therein. Still we could not effect all this saving, for we must keep in view the preservation of the excellences of the system. One of these was the benefit to country districts —a bene fit which no denominational system could give. Jt would be unwise to restrict the age in these country districts, seeing that tfie teacher's salary depended upon the average attendance. The increase of scholarships in order to nmke the various stages of the educational system dovetail into one another would also modify the saving he mentioned. Again, too, there was room for retrench ment in the Education Boards.

Native Department,

The time,too,had arrived for the abolition of the Native Department, It should be added to some, other department, and the native's should lie made fc>. share the,, fiscal burdens of the European population, They held posHOßßion of twelve million acres of land, and had too long esoaped • their fair contribution to the revenue of the country,

Our PuWq ©Qfct,

Our net colonial debthad beep represented at £31,688,000. That was; however, qopsider

ablyless than tho correefcamounfc. The mistake arose from the fact) thab thesa figures wore taken from the table appended, W the Financial Statement, and this only gave tho figures up to the 31st March, f(JB6. Since then, one million &nd & half had been borrowed. The neb debt amounted to L 33,372,000, and on this the annual interest waa a millionand three-quarters. Our aggre gate indebtedness had been made to ap pear worse than it really was. It had been said that taking the colonial debt, mort gages, debts of local bodies, &c., the whole debt of the colony amounted to something like ninety millions. These figures were also taken from the table appended to the Financial Statement, and the items composing the aggregrate were made up as follows :—-Colonial debt, after deduct ing Sinking Fund, L 51*,688,369 ; but it now really stood at L33,37'2,000, and upon this we paid interest at the rate of L 1,764,000 a year. lv addition, pur private debts amonnted to 130,865,593. He drew their attention to the twenty millions for he thought, it was but right that it should be spoken of as debt when endeavouring to arrive at tho balance of assets over liabilities, and yet it was not real. (A voice : " Can't we tile ?") It was not. all real, because it was made up by reckoning,the whole of the national debts together. This was a mistake, as the money that -A. owed to B. would pay ' the indebtedness of B. to C. Neither should it be assumed that they were paying eight per cent, on it. To get at the amount of interest that was sent out of the colony, they must take three items, viz., the colonial debt, on which the interest was LI,704,000; the debt of local bodies, with interest amounting to L3()8,00l); and on-foreign mortgages, Ll, 178,000 making a total pf 1.3,251,000.

Public Works Fund.

He would now speak on the Public Works Fund. That was the fund into which all the money thab was borrowed was put. It was divided into three parts. First there was the balance of the old lurtns, then the 'North Island Trunk Loan, and finally the loan of LI, 350,000 raised last year. Of this latter, there still remained L7J 3,000, while the. million of the North Island loan had not been raised. The money already spent j on this account had been borrowed from the j fund and amounted to L,5'2,),(]00. Theamount j at the credit of the fund on the first account Oil 31st March last was L491,000j while against this were liabilities totlio extent of L45'i,000. Against this small balance, some woi'ks had been voted lasfc session. He believed the North 1.-:hnd loan .should be raised at once. The question arose, when, is this borrowing to end 1 He thought it should cease as soon as possible, and that money should be raised only for works that were absolutely necessary. Land on Hallway Route. The speaker' proceeded to refer to the^ expenditure of .L7Q,000 upon the purchase of land on the route of the North Island Trunk' Railway. He pointed out that a portion of this money had been spent in the acquisition of European interests, and this was especially so wifch regard to the Rangipo block, the nearest portion of which was fifteen miles from the line. He also took exception to the expenditure of a portion of the money in the acquisition of the Tongariro National Park. This land was mountainous, and useless for purposes of settlement. Protection of ludustriaa. Although the'-.feature of the Financial Statement was a large addition to the tariff proposals, yet there "was a disposition in it to commit the country to a policy of out - and - out protection'; His views on this question were well known. It had always been a part of his programme to give protection and encouragement to industries. While admitting the sound ness of the general principles of free trade, he was impressed with the necessity of as sisting in the establishment of industries and thus developing our wealth and supplying the wants of the community. But they must be careful that they did not go too far and raise up vested interests that they could not shake off. The protec tive tariff was already 15 percent., which was really 16^, and then they had further protection in the cost of bringing foreign goods to this market. They should be care ful in going beyond that. If he were asked to support a .prohibitive tariff, he would not consent. That meant the shutting out of those articles which we receive in exchange for our staple products, and a consequent loss of revenue. Protection of this kind would also fcean an additional cost to the con sumer, and the forcing of capital and labour into other than proper channels, and would be opposed to the healthy growth of the community. It might give a -fillip to cer tain trades, but when production was over-stimulated, and the increased cost of production prevented the export of the good.", we would lind ourselves ! worse off than ever. (This sentiment was greeted with a, storm of " Noes j' and* Yes,': and the uproar was co great that for several moments the speaker was unable to proceed.) It was true that we were suffering from bad time 3, but we were not alone in this«respect. If we looked for a cause of depression, we would have to go far deeper than the ques tions of either free tradp or protection. America, France and Germany, which were protectionist countries, were worse off than we were here. In America, the wages were most nearly approximated with the rates in Great Britain, and in the taxable industries they were actually lower than in Great Britain. Therefore, he feared the effect of over protection would be to reduce the wages of the labouring classes. We must educate the people to consume locally produced articles. He admitted that the tariff' required revision, and especially so in regard to the present anomaly of taxing raw materials required for use in our manufacturing operations. It had been stated that a large quantity of Dutch cheese was imported into the colony, bub he found in looking into the matter that our total import of cheese last year was valued at L' 292, and the export at L45,G40. So also with hams, our total" import amounted in value to L 156 and our exports to L 7.314. With potted meats, the value of the meats imported was L 1,319, and the value of the exports L 47,427. These figures spoke for themselves. He could refer to many other articles in the same way. These figures did not support tl^e •argument for extreme protection, but were rather the other way. He had always interested himself in developing local in dustries, and had not been content to talk about them only, but had also put his mon.ey into them. Village Settlements. He would now speak with regard to Village Settlements, and in the first place he emphasised the fact that the opposition would not have done their duty to the country if they had not questioned the action of the Government in exceeding in their expenditure the vote passed by the House by fourteen times its amount. Ho had always advocated the settlement of the people on small blocks of land, thus avoiding the evils that prevail in the old country by immense tracts of good land being looked up in the hands of unrepro dnctive landlords, He was willing to give Mr Ballance credit for a sincere and laud able desire to settle the land, and would be glad to see the experiment prove successful. But this thing could not go pn for ever. Where, he asked, was the money to come for it ? and if they did it in this matter, thoy would require, to do it with other trades. He pointed out that the land fund had gone behind to the extent of £154,000, It was to his mind inconsistent that the Go« veniment that had given away two millions of land to the East and West Coast Hallway Ooinpany shpii|d in t\\k matter- of the village, eetfemente be riding thoh' hobby of perpetual leasing to death. He

thought tho proviso in Mr Rolleston's scheme by which the sebijers could acquire their freeholds was a good one, and ho Pr6 dieted fch^fc the village settlers would yet demand their freeholds. (A voice : " Quite right.") He believed that the Village Settle men Sohemo would place an obstacle in the way of the purchase of small farms for cash. He eulogised the deferred payment system in force in the South, by which one million acres had alr.eady been settled in small blocks. Those people had the power of converting their sections into perpetual leaseholds, and not one had availed him aelf of this condition. Upon this point—the opportunity of converting into freehold — the Secretary of Crown Lands said : " Al though giving greater immediate relief than capitalisation, all seem to prefer capitalisation and payment of interest, thereby retaining the opportunity of securing the freehold." This was the obstacle to the theory of the national isation of the land, for the magic of property had an irresistible attrac tion for tho popular mind. For pas toral purposes the leasehold system was the most useful, and as for the settlement of the land he preferred Sir George Grey's bill (loud cheers) for many reasons to that of the Government. In the iirst place it allowed the settler to possess the freehold after the lapse of three years, and limited the advances of money to the amount for buildings. Laud settlement was one of the prime factors in the prosperity of a country, and given the three favouring conditions of good land, an opportunity of earning wages during a port of the time, and the prospect of securing possession of the freehold, the people would have every facility for taking up land on ad vantageous terms- Taxation. Ho intended to devote some attention to the subject of taxation. All forms of taxa ation were objectionable, and the property tax, like other imposts, had its draw backs and defects. But as it was evi dent that in the present condition j of the colony taxation could not be dispensed with, the question was whether a similar amount could be raised as eflec | tively, cheaply, and as equitably by means | ■of any other tax. His own opinion was | | that it could not. For instance, an in come tax was open to graye objections. There was the certainty that some people j would be able to defraud the revenue by j returning the wrong amount as their! income, and there was not tho same i facility for checking a man's accounts i as for checking his return of property, j ' Under the property tax, the wealthy capi- , talist was reached most effectually, and was ! obliged to contribute to the revenue of the I I country ; whereas, under a land and income tax, many anomalies were possible. For in stance, a man possessed of very great means might not be touched by the land tax, for thg j'tjaijon that he owned no land, while he might also escape the income tax by show- j ing that his investments had not returned him any profit in that particular year. Per ! sonally he hud no'prejiittioe in the matter, j and he would be satislied with any impost j j which fairly reached the wealth of the conn- i try, He might say that he had no Jand j himself to be taxed. (A voice : " What j I about St. Helier's Bay '(") He mubt accuse the Government of glaring inconsistency in this matter. They had recently put for ward a land and income tax as one of the chief planka in their political platform, and had been engaged of late in extolling it and \ correspondent crying down the property | tax. But if they were sincere in this j I matter why had they, during the last four ! i years, made no effort wh'-n they had the! cliance to remove this very obnoxious j measure ? Their sudden discovery and con- j damnation of its delects seemed very singu lar. Limitation of Votes. He had previously been under the im pression that the holding of the elec tions on one day restricted the evils of plural voting under a property qualifica tion, und that the disadvantages' of such a I method had boon largely over-rated. When i the bill of Sir George Grey was before the j House last year, arid during the recent ses-! sion nl«o, he voted to restrict tho property qualification to two votes. This he did in order to ro-intrijriuce the leasehold vote, by the abolition of which arose the anomaly of nearly all the owners of premises in Queen-street being deprived of all voting power in the electorate in which their interests were bound np. But lie had been reconsidering the whole question of repre sentation of late, and he had come to the decision that he would vote at present for the man hood suffrage principle. If it were to be modified, lie would like to sec it modified in the direction of having Hare's system of voting introduced into the colony, as that system would enable the views and feelings of the community to be represented more accurately than at the present time. Umler it, too, tho injustice to which he had re ferred might in some measuro be neutra lised. Mr Peacock then proceeded to ex plain the peculiarities of Hare's system of representatior. If it were adopted, the opinions of the people would be more fairly expressed, the majority would be represented and minorities would have a hearing. The elections would then be the reflex of public opinion on any given subject in the colony.

Legislative Council Reform.

With regard to Legislative Council reform, ho thought it was necessary to have a second chamber, but he thought there could be reform in it. Hq believed the members should be elected for ten years, half of them to retire every five years. Thu number, he con sidered, might be reduced from 49 to 36. Then the question arose, how they should be elected, and how differences with the Lower House were to be regulated. They might, if elected by the people, claim a voice in the control of the public purse, and that would not be desirable. He, however, sug gested joint action between the two Houses. (The interruptions to the speaker became frequent at this stage, and Mr Peacock had some difficulty in proceeding with his ad dress.) Tgwering above everything else wore the questions of retrenchment and re form in the administration of the finances of the colony. The question arose whether the present was the Ministry that should be'en trusted with fche carrying out of this reform. (" 3Sfo, No.") The electors must consider that but for the check of the Opposition on the borrowing proposals and spherpes of the Government, they would have lauded us in the mire, and if the pruning knife was to be applied, it must be wielded by mpre vigorous hands than those of the present Ministers. In ottering himself as their can didate, he might say that lie had been five or six years in the House, and in that time he had done his duty faithfully to his constituency (" Yes," " No," and hisses). He had given close at tention to the business of the country, both in the House and in committee, where much of the practical business was done, and both by his voice and vote had sought to promote just and wise legislation. (Cheers.) As for the colony, notwithstand ing its present difficulties, he believed there was a bright future in store for it. Adversity had its advantages for communities as Well as individuals, and if ifc conduced to thrift and economy, and plaoing our finances on a sound basis, ib would not be in vain. With our grand climate, splendid resources, and vast natural wealth we had nothing to fear. (A voice: "Soft soap," and laughter.) We should aim at ■ steady progress rather than at sene&tional iitfulness of progress. He thought that with prudence at the helm, and relieved of our burden of top hamper, wo would vide triumphantly through the troubles that surrounded us. aw! speed onward upon a career of progress. and prosperity. Mv Peacock concluded amidst cheera.

The Chairman announced that Mr Pea cock was willing to answer questions, and a large number were handed up in writing. Those which were of a personal nature, the Chairman declined to put to Mr Peacock. Questions. In answer to questions the candidate said he bad followed Major Atkinson in the last Parliament, but in the present posi tion of parties he did not think it wise to pledge himself in any direction for the future. He thought that in revising the tariff we would have to see that the proper goods should have the duty put upon j them. He could not give an answer, with regard to any particular article. They all knew that if they wanted a piece of ground for agricultural purposes they would have to pay for it. It was not natural that we should get it for nothing. He did not think the efficiency of a member lay in his rushing about to get something to bring in a bill upon. He thought the great number of private bills really clogged the wheels of legislation. He did vote against the Eight Hours Bill. (Uproar and hisses.) Howling was nob reason. In answer to other questions, Mr Peacock said that he was in favour of the eight hours' system, but at the same time he believed the Eight Hours Bill was an un necessary piece of legislation (loud dissent); besides, it Avas understood that a large number of exemptions would be introduced into it, and then it would be always possible to contract out of it; that he had voted for the bill proposing to reduce the honorarium to LIOO ; that he had voted for 91 members rather than see the Representation Bill lost; that he did not speak against the printing of the report of the Local Indus tries Committee (a voice: "You did"), but he did vote against the country being put to the expense of having the letters printed ; that he had never opened his mouth in favour of having a duty put upou baulk timber ; that he did not think it wise at present to change the property tax, but if it were repealed he would support the i substitution of a land and income tax ; [ that he forgot whether or not he voted in committee for Dr. Pollen's pension being grunted; that if the question came up again it ought to be carefully investigated ; ! that he kept himself from voting ou the District Railways Bill because as a share holder in the Rotorua Railway Company he I wars tin interested party ; that the llotorua i Railway Company received no land from the I Government; that he did notknow anything I about hop beer, and therefore could not say iif lie would be in favour of it; that he was ! prepared to support local option if he Were , satisfied that there was v clear majority 'of the adult population in favour o'i it. |He was in favour of one part of Sir George Grey's Law Practitioners Bill, but he did not approve of giving any man the power of going into the Supreme Court and con-, ducting a case He was not one of the famous Auckland four. The time must I soon come when the Maoris would have to be treated in the same way as the Europeans in the matter of taxation ; but if a | land tax were imposed, consideration \ would have to be givtsu tp tjic position of i the Maoris, so that they, should not be ! treated with injustice. He was willing to | assist in remedying any grievance with res pect to the present system of recovering small debts. Ha did not consider that the matters dealt with in the 1886 session were of sumcLnfc importance to justify him in calling the electors together. .He would, : however, be willing to meet them after I every Parliament if they wished it. jHe Was indifferent whether a sessional '• honorarium or annual honorarium was paid. ! At present, those members who were in the I House in a previous session id the same ! year were only entitled to LIOO. He was in favour of thorough retrenchment. It would be idle for a man to get up and say |ho would vote for retrenchment to the extent of L 300.000 or L 400,000. He was in favour of thorough and complete retrenchment. He did not believe they could retrench to the extent of L4OO/JOO, but believed they could by a quarter of a j million. (Mr Jeune, who asked the ques | tion, retorted that if Mr Peacock could not do it, there were others who could.) He was not convinced that, as a practical mutter, Vaile's railway scheme could be given effect to, unless the revenue suffered. He was in favour of keeping the Chinese out by the poll tax which at present existed, because? he did not believe they would make desirable colonists. He never said as a director of the Mercury Bay Timber Com pany that 4s a day was sufficient for a man. He believed it was to the interests of all j that wages should be good. He did not tal: c any action relative to the unemployed in Aucklandlastsession, because those who were communicated with on that subject did the work required of them well, and it was not necessary for everyone tp get up and re peat the same cry ijarrot-like. He did everything he could relative to the Cox's Creek Bridge. He sympathised with those who were compelled to -work late hours in shops, and he believed that if there was a majority of shopkeepers in one district desirous of closing early, they should have j the power of doing so. Bellamy's was sup ported from the profits derived' from things sold in it, and was self-supporting. Ho would not make himself a mere machine to register otherpeople'sdeeisions,butafc the same time would give careful and courteous consideration to any suggestions re. the tariff from Industrial Associations. He did not see any immediate necessity for increasing the duties on tea and sugar, but he saw no reason why theso things should be more sacred than cornflour, for instance. We should have federation between the colonies before we talked of imperial federation. He had no sympathy whatever with the truck system, and did not think it should be encouraged. He also replied that he was favourably inclined to putting our railway system under the control of a board of works ; that there was no present necessity for immigration, and that at no time should it interfere with such classes of labour as were superabundant in the colony ; that the tariff wo had now, if properly adjusted, was sufficient for the encouragement of our native in dustries. ; that he did not know that it would be wise to do away with the Grand Juries, but he would be inclined to regard favourably a proposal to increase the payment to petty jurors. Grand Jurors, however, were not paid.

At this stage a disturbance took place at the front of the hall, and the audience rose to their feet to see the fun.

When they resumed their seats the sfcream of written questions to tho platform again set in.

Mr Peacock replied that although he would be pleased to see the Bible intro duced into our public schools, yet that the differences between Christian denomi nations rendered it impossible ; and that lie was inclined to think that coroners' juries could be done away with in most places, and their duties fulfilled by a skilled officer appointed for the purpose. Mr I). F. Evans complained of the manner in which the property tax was administered, and the system adopted by the Property Tax Commissioner in clapping on the valuations.

Mr Peacock said this was one of the ob jections lie saw to the property tax. Mr Evans also complained of the manner in which the Representation Commissioners performed their duties. The Under Stap pers did the work, and the Commissioners took the sovereigns. For instance, Mason's gardens had been cut oil" Ponsonby and put into Newton without inomiring how many people lived there. Mr Evans moved a vote of thanks anp confidence to Mr Peacock. (Cheers and hisses.) Mr I). B, McDonald seconded the motion. Mr F. Jeune moved us p,q amendment a vote of thanks and no pon« fidepce to the candidate, Mr Peacock had told them alpo'ufc the past, but npthing about the present finances of

the country. What prospect; had he told them they had for their future wives ana families? (Continued laughter, ana a voice: "Whafc will your wife say. ) «* Peacock had been in Wellington 15 days, and had pocketed 144 a day. There were women and children weeping for breaa, and yet they proposed to pa*jS a vo.te °* confidence in Mr Peacock. He had not the pleatwro of having a wife and family as he had stated (laughter), but h? had visited the families of those wfaQ had them, and'he did not know if they had themselves (laughter), and it was painful to see the distress amongst them. Be nwnea a vote of thanks and no cqnMence m A"1 Peacock. _, • The amendment was put first, ana a large number of hands were raised for it, A voter then rose and called for three cbeereforSirfteorgeGrey, which were given. The Chairman managed to mix things up between the motion and the amendment. He called for those against the amendment to hold up their hands, and a much smaller number were shown. At this time the audi ence were filing out of the hall, and the Chairman, hesitating too long about the motion, lost tho opportunity of potting it. The meeting concluded with a vote ot thanks to the Chairman, moved by Mr 1 ea cock.

THE AUCKLAND EVENING STARI WEDNESDAY, JULY 20 1887,

2



Election Kotit^'cs. ■v-EWTO? EL ECTORATB. MR EDWARD WITHY Will address a Meeting of Electors in thq CHHISTIAN'S MEETING HOUSE, New North Road, ON THURSDAY, 21st IN ST ~ At 7.30 p.m. ARNELL ELECTORATE. . MR. SEYMOUR THORNE GEORGE „ .Will ADDRESS THE ELECTORS In the PARNELL HALL, ON FRIDAY EVENING NEXT, The 22nd instant, AT EIGHT O'CLOCK. mcTriIirELECTORS OF PARNELL. [ j ; Gentlemen,—As an opponent of the present; I have the honour tooffei myself las a Candidate for ypur suffrages. I advocate a thorough retrenchment, so that our expenditure may be brought well within our revenue; the settlement of the people upon the land; the foster ing of local industries; the abolition of the property tax; and the substitution o£ a Land and Income Tax., Yours faithfully, SEYMOUR THORNE GEORGE. EDEN ELECTORAL DISTRICT. 3lr. E. MITCHELsON will address the Electors of Eden in Mr Wayte's Mount Eden Hal! on MONDAY, tho 25th instant, at Sp.ni. in the Mount Albert Hall, on WEDNESDAY; the 27th inst., at 8 p.m. "► and in the Public Hall, Avondale, on FRIDAY, the 29th :a*3t, at 8 p.m.! TO THE ELECTORS OF EDEN. ■ Gentlemen,— I have pleasure in offering myself as a Candidate for your electorate, and will, at an early date, do myself the honour of addressing you on political matters. EDWIN MITCHELSON. Auckland, 30th June, ISS7. TO THE ELECTORS, OP AUCKLAND NORTH. Gentlemen*, I respectfully beg to offer myself for Re election to Represent your District in the House of Representatives. Yours faithfully, T, THOMPSON. June 10,1557. mo THE ELECTORS OF NEWTON.' I (Gentlemen.— Finding that pusiness rap-tters interfere with my candidature, I have resolved to with draw from the present contest, but will at some future date seek a renewal' of your support and confidence. I am, &c, 4, Your 3 truly, A. G, LEE. ED !(jj N. I Meeting of Mr CONNELL'S Working Com mittee in Waite's Hall, on Juljr 20, at 7.30 p.m. i Business of Imphbtance. A Full Meeting reqttested, and Gentlemen desirous of joining the Committee are cordially invited to attend. Ji AITKEN CONNBLL, Candidate for Eden. "OEQUIBITION TO SIR WM.' FOX' TO DELIVER A POLITICAL ADDRESS. Sir We Fox,—Wo, the undersigned Citizens of Auckland, respectfully request you to give a Publio Address on the leading political questions of the day. If you can acoedu to our desire we shall be happy to make arrangements for a Meeting at a time which will, suit your.con venience. , ■ [Signed by John Lamb and 162 others.] [REPLY.] rf~l ENTLEMEN—In reply to a requisition' signed by upwards of 162 Electors of the City of' Auckland, I shall be happy to give an Address on the leading political questions of the day, at | any time and place which you may arrange. WILLIAM FOX. To Messrs John Lamb, S. Vaile, F. G. Bwing ton and others. $ IN pursuance of the above a Public Meeting will be held at the City Hall, on WED NESDAY EVENING next, at half-past seveii. Mr Upton will take the chair. TQ~TIIE~EILECTGRS~Or FRANKLIN SOUTH. MR JOHISr JENKINS will Address the EleMi r4nda-WEDNESDAr. July 20, Public PoJ?io 00Tal!ey- THURSDAY, July ?1, PufefflSast-FRIDAY, July 22, Pl»bUp ; School EACH EVENING AU' f.BB. '



Agent, Queonstrcof Cl X «o?&5 AND ' DISCOUNT Wim*^: ***** *^^m^ MONEY advanced from „. , any amount required, -to suit h v 1 PERSONAL, FItEEHOLD*&** I any TANGIBLE SECURITY EASEBOLDi I way as may be arranged" dMh fH'L F MONTHLY, or QUAltgijfc^Sp lowest current rates, I ADVANCES made on FURKITnn B ' removal; also.on all kinds ofS?"^ i including BOKD WAItIUNT I BILLS DrSCOUNTEpatourJ^ |. Interviews and oomiuunieftHn* '. 1 strictly ooutideutial, UnioaHM? SftUl,^ | Bank or, England n oto <. n"jT"T>< 1 T ONDON MORTGAGE iolv SD' I JU DISCOUNT BAVr^' *& I (Opposite A. Clark p.nd SonY w T^AJfo I And Little Collius-st,, Kgjp, 1 LOANS aye advanced from £10 (n*^ 1 _ Upon r^*",Ooo Kg Personal, Freehold, and l^mM <v I Weekly. itath^TtorJr I At Lowest Current W*N I Advances made on Furniture wjtllu M 1 and all classes of MercliSf^N M Loans granted upon Life Polieie* &, M Interests under Wil« W H BILLS DISCOUNTED AT CoiJRENT Hi* Loans upon Deposit of Dcefe liopkylSi, H Easy ,ln?ui!m«nts. mm W M Advances on Life Policies. JOSN W.HARDIE I Land, Commission, and W"^ § LAND AND MONETARY AQENt' I 24, SHORTLAND-STREET ! (Three doors past Star Office), I am prepared to value' land in! ApcHaadtf w the Country for intending pMrcliwcjeitas wb reasonable terms. All land sold byiwito in |P land I charge 2| per pent, commissipil' '■•'■ I am prepared to negotiate Mortgage Vmi if? . . from £25 to Advances made on Colonial and EpgMK | Having Aleuts in all parts of Australwauli | England. I can make Advances urn Wli E; : , in gum? f rpm £50 to £15,094 INDUSTRIAL AND PRO^EdB PERMANENT BUILDING,-LANDf II INVESTMENT SDCtETVf \ffi kWSMSim Repayments „•_ w k TobdwalH extending over ler we°Kl rei»pt ■ 1 year .. .. £2. fl 0 M-OJ i S yeai-d .." '.. ■ * 1,011, vlfiJ ■ 3 years .. .. Oil 7" W , | i years ... .. Oil 8 *f I 5 years .. .. 010 0 :*{!'■ 0 years .. '~ 08 9' "iSßin B 7yar 3 .. .., 0.741,:■■•,.§! | 8 years .. '.. 01 1 *HH 10 years .. .. 06 3j ,?y|^4j| The Board has power in cases Want oi .Employment to BuspendPwi>)fl» M Borrowers Shars ir Prpfits. , Part or whole of the advancj JWffjWjSH at' any time.' Interest ceases on.fl?JWl| A mepi ber who has obtained an a? TOfJr,H ibertv to sell his property atanf "?il'"jß| pay oit his mortgage; or may,if ™aesirrjK bis property subject to the Riortgsgf ""■i S"oSrofQU a^«^H i JOHN BANM^g | 1 UCKLAND PEB|ANENyB • OPKUATIVE BU.ILDI> TG.* t MENT SOCIETY. '. /. :' i '"« Office : 147 ,QDPBKrST BEK'' I i LOANS granted upon apprp^^R Freehold or I^ascho d Prtperues»•^■| £20 to £6,000. principal and intere|wpm| » able in instalments at the MS'^p™ $ Rates for repayment of each ?m_ TLffll c' fiePayiniove e rXM: Per^ fj^M J 1 year - .. 20 o" ]m!||Jß 2 years T. .. 1 010 «| 3 years „ .. . 0 -: |jH „ i years - .. 011 8., ~,*| ■■ X' 6 years.. .. 0, g*, HI f1 8 years -' .. 07 J: felflfil be __Jo__ye»r3 „ -, •■ -'JJ-^-r^dmm pa And in the same proporlfoh for i tir t^ -"', s| to G months -■ " ~s% ijti^W tfcd SSfiSR3» lWd|p t