REPLY TO PREMIER.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 476, 7 April 1909, Page 9

REPLY TO PREMIER.

SPEECH BY MR. MASSEY. THE GOVERNMENT AND THENAVY. CIVIL SERVICE RETRENCHMENT. - (Br TIUpttAHI—MESS ASSOCIATION.) . , Buckland, April 6. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr. W. F. Alassoy) delivered a speech in the Buckland public hall to-night in..reply to recent utterances of tho Prime Minister.. Mr. Massey said there had been a considerable change in the Ward Cabinet,; and there were only now two members of the Seddon Cabinet left. He was not able to say what was the reason for Mr. M'Gowan's retirement. It was quite'evident, tho real reason had never been given out. Mr. Mackenzie, who hail taken Mr. • M'Gowan's place, was ablo to tako care of himself, and his constituents, and with" tho Hon. R. M'Kenzie it would be a case of West , Coast first, and the rest of Now Zealand afterwards. Mr. ■ Massey went on to predict considerable discussion when tho Houso met over Mr. Ngata's appointment. Then there was another Minister without salary in the Hon. T. Mackenzie, who would bo tho next Minister for Agriculture,if he had:not already been appointed. ' That was the matter that intereeted Government supporters more than it interested him,; and he .had no "doubt the Goverriinent supporters would.be thinking a lot about,it now. . ' .

ri- ~,'.■ . ..Defence, . . ..-••■ Dealing with defence matters, Mr. Massey spoke of i tho proposal to present a warship to' tbe Imperial Navy. By a coincidence, on the very- d'ay when the Dreadnought proposal was announced; he had been speaking to a "Herald" representative on the Naval Estimates, and had said that if the naval subsidy required to be increased he bid no doubt'that . Parliament would readily grant it.: The underlying idea in his mind then was that, tho different countries should contribute to the maintenance of the Navy in .proportion to population. In the. Speech from the Throne in June, it was mentioned that Parliament would .havo an opportunity of .increasing >the naval subsidy. Up till September 23j when Sir Joseph Ward intimated' what business be intended to pro-ceed-with, no other-mention was made of the' increase, nor did the Prime Minister mention 'it until he (Mr.'Massev) called attention to it, and then the Prime -Minister said he would deal with it in a clause in the Appropriation Bill. When objection- was taken to this course,' a Bill was. introduced and ■. was agreed to unanimously. Hβ was absolutely certain that if. more had been asked it would , have been given.. (Applause.) He was absolutely astounded to find, on. the evening of tho day on which Lβi had given the interview!referred to, that the Government had' decided to offer a battleship, or two if necessary. 'He claimed to be-as good an Imperialist as any in this country. Jle ■ had voted for" what, might -';i be- called'.. Imperial 'proposals ■"." on' : every•'occasion but.be had some respect for democratic principles. As far as he was ablo to. see,-Sir Joseph Ward did not-even suggest that.the offer was made subject to'the consanf of Parliament being forthcoming. It was the laghtand privilege of Parliament to control expenditure,- Sir Joseph Ward at Upper Hutt paid'the Ministry in the Old Country very often adopted a similar course. He (Mr, Maesey knew of no ■ similar instance m the last 200 years. The instance of tne-Hucz Canal-shares had' been referred to. but t-e positions were not similar. In the case of tho shares, there was necessity for absolute secrecy, or the shares would never nave-become the property of Great Britain, and the shares.could have'been sold the day.': arter at a' greater'price, or at ajiy time since!'' inere was similarity only in the fact that the amount involved was about the same as the cost of two warships, but two'or three roilS°?x* i! va £ a Ter y small item-aa-'far-'-'as the isntisn Parliament was concerned. "■'■ ' ■ ■■■ •

. ' Battleships or Increased Subsidy. Even if.there was a.crisis'to justify the action of the Government, then Parliament should have been called together at once, and Parliament should have had an opportunity of saying, whether the assistance would take the fornv of an increased subsidy or battle*n"?fc" w^T 113 ' , ,. 11 ! F referre a the subsidy to the battkshipi, but he was quite prepared to bow to the will of: the majority, as long as Parliament had the opportunity,that rightly belonged to.it. Sir Joseph; .Ward exclisJ himself from sendmg a telegram to'members' as at the fame of the South African war/by Baying tho circumstances were different, but * a *•inthe-caso of. the contingents, the whole of the expenses -were Pf'f ft «» British Government, S in th t case the cost would fall on the taxpayers fo» J§T l 0$; U was ,vell Wn that before making the announcement- Sir Joseph Ward communicated with the., editors of the clo that, it- was surely necessary to consult the representatives of the"pebple. It was a Pity S.r Joseph decidef to make this a party question _ by saying that, the Government would resign if a majority did not sipporthim. I\o one possessing Imperial senti ment w Ou]( seek to make our reSiv"th I f .Imperial Government a party matter W + K r 3Kis^d the Old Country wftn

The Public Service. Hβ was scarcely surprised, at Sir of tl T T organisation or tne public Service, for he (Mr Ma<:eov\ know affairs were in k pretty bad state A few weeks ago 'he pointed out that for' the financial .year ended March . 31, 1908 the permanent, and annual appropriation had W «tfV;«P«*h justiffecf all the -OppSn vi^V. If £250 '°° 0 could-bo saveT what few bM »"*V«e ki lew jearsi , Jho Government had been mn Sf°»' ° its own mouth-of w|ul and culpable negligence*. . and even of miL\d numeration in connection with the Public ThL C ° nCerned *™AK find KtowKipSt^a reasons,.and there wulcl be no real or permanent improvement until there was a Public_ Service Board, which would make Tvpqmtments,- not on account of political opinion,- but on account of merit aril of tho fct St ? e .?!*»"*• (Applause.) Sir Robert Stout said candidates were appointed »ho had never passed an examination, and a 7 ere f p pom ed " to p° sitions which should have been given to others, who wore above them m examination. .Sir Robert Stout subsequently said this referred te 14 years ago but ho (Mr Mnssey) said the words, applied with eo>l force or even mo force to tho present day. (4nnlauso ) There were 40,000 people in k Puft SeVlice. It was absolutely necessary if the Service was to be satisfactory that the o people shoud understand tha/ebffity, to,g service and good conduct counted for a f£n. dC? '\ "#* t a " P°l'tioal influence (Applause.) The Hon. W. Hall-Jones's secretary had been placed in a Department over the heads of a number of men who were not only his seniors in length of service, but also, ho (Mr. Massoy) believed, in ability This sort of thing should bo -put to m tho interests of tho Service and tho State., (Applause.) He was not able, oivine to tho absence.of details, to criticise the reorganisation proposals.

Agricultural Department. Tho Agricultural Department wascostin" £160,000 per annum, nnd as a practical agr£ culturist, ho said tl]c country was not gettint;'tho value for its money—(applause)— and-.was not going to got it until there was a practical man at tho head of the Department, .which there was not at Drasent. .In

tho poultry division tho salaries paid actually exceed the total" value of all tho poultry exported from tho Dominion. Tho exporimontal farms could bo made much moro useful and ynluablo than at present, if properly organised. (Applause.) With regard to tho Native Department, things had been unsatisfactory for a long time, and ho trusted that whatever was intended in tho changes it was not intended to block tho settloment of Native lands. (Applause.) Ho had some doubt about it, for there was a strong organisation to prevent tho alienation of Native land other than by leasing to Europeans, and that organisation was not only represented in Parliament, but in the Ministry itself. Ministerial Sn!arlo3. Mr. Massey concluded by rcferenco to the Prime Minister's manifesto issued just , prior to the elections, and said that Dr. Kndlay, or whoever else was tho author of that manifesto, attempted to slander Sir Harry Atkinson, who took on ono of tho biggest tasks that . ver faced a Minister in New Zealand. Owing to tho squandering policy of previous Governments, Sir Harry Atkinson had to retrench. Sir Joseph Ward had not reached that stage yet, and did not know what was in front of him. Sir Harry Atkinson did not commence by cutting down Departments, but by cutting down his own salary. (Applause.) Not by ten per cent., as he did with the various services later on, but from £1750 to £1000, and he (Mr. Massey) would beliove in Sir Joseph Ward's proposals when the Prime Minister cut his own salary down to £1000. (Loud applause.) The -excuse for the increase in the number of Ministers was that thero were so many Departments to Jook after. Tho Departments were now cut down from 37 to 16, and so the number of Ministers should be cut down in proportion—(laughter and loud appjause)—otherwise the country would l>o paying for salary, travelling allowance,. and secretarial assistance for men not required. (Applause.) Mr. Massey, who was most cordially received, .was accorded a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence