SPEECH AT HAWARDEN.

Press, Volume L, Issue 149814, 30 May 1914, Page 12

SPEECH AT HAWARDEN.

Tho Hon. A. L. Herdmau, Minister of Justice, visited Hawarden yesterday, and addressed a fairly large gathering in the Hawarden Hall at 1.30 p.m. Mr John Allen, of Waikori, was voted to the chair, and briefly introduced the Minister. The Minister was received with applause, and said how glad ho was to visit Hawarden, and he lelt that it was very good of those present to.come long distances to listen to him. He naa been glad to take the opportunity ol" seeing as much cf Canterbury as possible, but in view o! taw special circumstances, he thought tiiat it was advisable that both sides of the political question should be heard oy all electors. The Hon. Mr Allen had already pointed out that certain gentieuieu were engaged in going througn the country, "■iving vent to utterances, and charges against the Government, "u-. when these charges were analysed calmly

and with due use of reason, it would

be found that they were without grounds, and the criticism cf very inue importance.

PRISON REFORM

After explaiumg tho duties of his pctouio.u, and likeumg tue Government to a iioard ot Directors which were running tbo country for the good of tne people therein, Mr lierdman referred to the question of prison reiorm. V> hen the Reiorm Government took charge the prison system of the Dominion was in a bad way, and the stall's were very discontented. This was not to be put to the discredit of Mr J. A. Ha nan, who had only a few months in which to do any reiorm work, but the fact remained. He (the speaker), when no came to take charge, round that tho prisons were not sufficiently inspected, the discipline bad, and a general slackness. Dr Hay, who used to have both the inspection of prisons and mental hospitals, had more than he could reasonably be expected to manage. . i.c latter position was all that one man coiOd attend to, and tno Government had appointed Mr C. l*i. Matthews as inspector of prisons. Mr Matthews was a zealous and efficient officer, and his work had had the effect of greatly bettering the work and conditions of the prisons during the past eighteen or twenty months. Much work had been done iv increasing the accommodation in the prisons, and the Government intended doing all in its power to remove the prisons from the congested centres of the population, to places further out in the country. a property had been obtained of 1000 acres at Waikeria in the North Island, where prisoners would be engaged in agricultural pursuits and operations; the prison at Invercargill had been modernised, and was now one o{ the best institutions of its kind in existence. It would soon be necessary to abolish tho prison at Lyttelton, and as soon'its a suitable site for the new place had been decided on the prison would be moved.The same thing would be done in Wellington.

PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE

Mr Herdman then dealt exhaustively with the charges against tbe administration of the Public Trust Omco, aa made by Mr G. W. Russell, M.P., and explained exactly what the true facts of the case were.

(A report of the Minister's remarks on this subject will be found in another column.)

THE GOVERNMENT'S WORK,

The Minister referred to certain statements made by Sir Joseph Ward, which must have been mado to "bluff" the public. These included the reference to the withdrawals of the Post Office Savings Bank deposits, the striko question, and the allegation that tho Government had broken its pledges and promises. Ho recapitulated' the work that the Government had already done and said that ho thought the amount of good work accomplished merited praise and not condemnation. No one could* call another person a pledge or promise breaker unless the time for the fulfilment of these pledges had expired, and that was certainly not tho case' with the Government. The speaker referred in an explanatory fashion to the legislation already brought dnw>. ■ in connexion with the Civil Service, pensions, money for settlers, railway reform, the bettering of conditions. for Government servants from the humblest right up to the occupants of tho Magistrate's benches and the abolition of the second ballot and other matters, and he also said that in the forthcoming session the Government would fulfil more of its promises and would bring down .Bills dealing with Legislative Council Reform, Education, arid Local Government.

A PERNICIOUS SYSTEM

One important piece of legislation to be introduced, the A 1 mister continued, was in connexion with grants for roads and bridges. As they were aware, membors of Parliament at present acted as agents in going to the Government for such grants, and he thought it was an admitted fact that in tho past the Public Works Fund had been used s s an instrument for the punishment of a district the electors of which had hot voted for the Government candidate. The Public Works Fund in the wst had been used for the purpose of sweetening or punishing a district. It was proposed' to introduce legislation to deal with a system—a pernicious and grossly unjust system—which led to usoless expenditure. Local bodies really in need of money had suffered sometimes, whilst others not in need of money got it. "I am not in a position," Mr Herdman went on to say. "to tell you the nature of the proposed legislation, but I can say in connexion with it, that it will aim at the destruction of a system that in the past has done more to demoralise pnblic life in New Zealand than anything else that ever existed." (Applause.) l A FINANCIAL MISSTATEMENT.

The Leader of the Opposition, when he replied at public meetings to the complaint made that when the Government took office the finances were in an unsatisfactory condition, generally dealt with the Consolidated Fund and omitted to tell the -rmblic that thee existed another fund, as important as the Consolidated Fund—the Public Works Fund. Ten days before tho Goo£T? ment office —that was on June 30th, 1912—the amount standing to the credit of the Consolidated Fund was £782.000, against which there were liabilities amounting to £540,000. so that the balance available was £242.000. On the same date—June 30th, 1912—the total to the credit of the Public Works Fund (including Joan moneys to be received), was £777,000. • What stood against that amount? There wore liabilities totalling £1,649.000. Included in that amount was a sum duo in respect to a Midland Railway contract not payable then: it totalled* £334,000. Eliminating that amount, the total was £1.31-1,000, and the deficiency on the Public Works Fund amounted to £537,000. The position then was that there was a credit in the Consolidated Fund of £242,000, and debit in the Public Works Fund of £537,000. That fact was never told to the people of New Zealand. It was the initial difficulty that Mr Allen, as Minister of Finance, had to meet at the commencement of his career. Roads had to be made, bridges to bo constructed, and local bodies were calling out for grants. That was a circumstance that was not mentioned by members of the Opposition. They did not allude to the Public

Works Fund: the Lender of the Opposition when he spoke iv Hawke's Bay the other day did not do so. Not only was there a scarcity of money and liabilities to. bo met "when*, the Government took office, but there were loan? (for which the Government was not responsible) maturing,, and the position was when they took charge on July 10th, 1912, that between that date and March 31st. 1915, loans amounting to £13,90",000 required to be renewed. So that in addition to raising money to carry on the ordinary business of the country, Mr Alien had to arrange for tho renewal or redemption of these loans. LOCAL BODIES' ADVANCES. There was a branch of the State Advance* Office called the Local Authorities Branch, which lent money to local bodies. On March 31st, ISI'J, the commitments ol tins branch totalled £723,0&J, and the cash and other ways and means totalled £<>t,OOO, leaving a balance of £(£50,000 to be found. Su that the new Government was faced with (I) the diiricuity of tho i'ublio Works Fund. (2) the matter of renewing loans, and (3) with the necessity, ut.iess tho bottom fell out of tiu« country, of finding £059,000 for local bodies. It was a nice state of affairs they had to take over. These were facts not put to the public by the "flying squadron, ' whicn very carefully glossed over theso circumstances. It was the business of Ministers to placo the facts before tho people. (Applause.) LAND DEFENCE. Referring to General Sir lan Hamilton's visit, tho Minister said that no duubt the General would, in his report, lay down the lines to Ik; followed in respect to the land defence of the Dominion. 'From his (the Minister's) observation of the working of the Defence Act there was nothing finer than the training given under it to tho youth of the Dominion. That was the aspect that appealed most to him rather than the actual need of tho defence of New Zealand from the aggression of an enemy. It was well that the youth of New Zealand should bo disciplined and taught obedience and respect. Tho training that tbe Cadets received was, in his humble judgment, a magnificent thing. The ultimate effect on the character of the growing youth of the Dominion would be magnificent. (Applause) Boys in New Zealand were not subjected to tho same strict discipline as the boys of the Old Country. Conditions were much freer in tho Dominion, and, it was just as well that the growing youth of tho Dominion should be taught that they must have respect for people older than themselves, must conform to discipline, and must havo regular habits. Ho believed tho defence scheme was going to do a great deal in that respect. CONCLUDING . REMARKS. The SDeaktfr concluded amid loud applause, and said that ho thought that the explanation he had been privileged to give them would show that the Government were not the rascals and blackguards that the "flying squadrons" would have them believe, but merely ordinary persons who were sincerely desirous of doing tho best they could for the good of.the country as a whole. Mr T. A. Shields moved and Mr H. Anderson seconded that a hearty vote of thanks be accorded to the Minister for his able address, and that the meeting record a vote of confidence in the Massey Government. The motion was carried unanimously, and a vote of thanks to the chairman concluded the very successful meeting.