REPLY tO PREMIER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 824, 24 May 1910, Page 6

REPLY tO PREMIER.

SPEECH BY MR. J. ALLENVIEWS ON THE DEFENCE QUESTION INCREASING TAXATION. SIR JOSEPH WARD'S EXPLANATION CRITICISED. (By Telegraph—Frees Association.) : Milton, May 23. Mr. James -Allen, M.P., addressed a meeting of his constituents to-night, this being the first of a series of addresses by him in reply to the Prime Minister's IWinton speech. Mr. Alloa said he would deal with only one or two parts of the Prime Minister's speech that night, and at other places where he intended to speak ho would refer to .other portions rf it. 'Anyone reading that speech, would Bnd- that' Sir Joseph Ward, when dealing with any opposition to himself or to his Government, where he had no argument ised words.of,this kind: "Deliberate misfepresentation," "misrepresented for political aims,"" "declamation against tho country," "carping criticism/' "whining over loans to local bodies. These words were not argument, and were not answers to might have been said by the Opposition, lake, For instance; the question of misrepresentation. The Opposition had constantly pointed out that the Government had Deen extravagant. The proof and the truth of what they had said (though bir .Joseph had often called it niisrcpresentation) were in his own admission that he could save .£250,000 a year without lmpairing'the efficiency'of the Civil Service, tfhe Opposition had represented that there were improper charges made on the Public Works Fund, maintenance and repairs, and such-like. Tlie proof that what they had said was correct wa9 that gradually most of these had been transferred back again to the Consolidated Fund, where they ought always to have been. As to misrepresentation for political aims, the Opposition denied tho charge altogether. Indeed the boot was de tho other •. leg, and he held in his hand a copy of one of 23 sheets of electioneering material issued for Government candidates at the election before the last one. The whole sheet .was a tissue of misrepresentation. With regard to the graduated land tax the Prime Minister had had to back down .with regard to the remarks he made about Mr. Massey, and he showed no generosity at all to those o.f the Opposition who got him out of 'his difficulty ."with regard to his Land Bill by suggesting, as they did, that the graduated land tax was the proper means of compelling the large estates to be divided up, with tho result so far as they personally were .concerned that large, landowners who bad been supporters of theirs dropped 'them altogether. Opposition Criticism. The Opposition had criticised and would continue to criticise the administration of the Government and the bad legislation whenever they thoughr.it'bad. They ' would criticise the continued attempts to lessen Parliamentary control, the adjournment of Parliament because the Prime Minister went to England, and if necessary they would continue to criticise' the schemes submitted to the people which they believed to be misleading and involving tho country in great responsibilities. For instance, ho had year after.year told.the electors that some'of. tho superannuation schemes placed on the Statute Book by 'the Government, were unsound, and the proof that h'e was right was in last year's Financial State-: rient,' where'it was'seen that the State had.already to come to,the assistance of nearly every scheme on the Statute Book. The Opposition had criticised the absence of sinking funds for the loans, and had said that the loans of the Dominion could be raised much more advantageously if sinking funds had been provided, and the proof that that, criticism was a sound one was in tho fact that the Prime Minister himself had now come round to that opinion, and in his speech at Winton declared himself in ' favour of sinking funds for every one of our loans, and in the, fact that he had already admitted the wisdom of applying sinking funds to the old war loans and some others. It was true the Opposition had criticised, and strongly criticised, tho various Land Bills introduced, but what did the Prime Minister's own colleague, the Attorney-Gen-eral, 6ay with regard to .the Bill of 1906 > —that it was quite impossible to make it workable. The Opposition certainly did object,, and still objected strongly, to the repeal of the law which allowed the local bodies to get money for absolutely necessary development works from the Crown at 3$ per cent, for 41 years. The Opposition looked upon it as the one means of mitigating tho evils now perpetuated under the votes for roads and bridges in tho Public Works Estimates. , The Opposition "whined," if the Priine .Minister liked to call it . so, over the new Bill ■which dealt -with assistance to local bodies last year, with tho result that the Prime Minister had to modify liis Bill, and tho local bodies were now getting the benefit of loans raised at a discount being considered as at par, and they had 'to pay the interest on the loans as though they had been raised at par, with 1 per cent, sinking fund, for 30V years. With Tegard to the Old Age Pensions Act, the amendments which encouraged the thrifty had been urged by Opposition members from tho time the Act started. With regard to the workers' homes, Mr. Massey was entitled to even more than the Prime Minister was, and -with regard to land settlement finance, Mr. Malcolm gave tho Prime Minister the lead there, and with resect to defence—well, surely the Prime Minister has accepted a lead from some of tho Opposition. Defence. Mr. Allen said he realised with great satisfaction ' the change that had come over the Prime Minister's mind as regards defence, and he wished to say that in the action he took last year, and in the action ho proposed to take in tho coming year, though he differed in details, yet on general principles he had supported tho Prime ilin- ■ ister and would support him. Ho had already stated that lie was prepared to go on the platform and do so. He was entirely in accord with the proposals that the age for national service should be raised from 21 to 25 years. No doubt his audience was aware of the Act of lasl year which so completely altered tho system of defence imposing national serviec up to the age of 21, beginning with the junior cadet at 12, with the senior cadel at 14, with the general training sectior from 18 to . 21, and a territorial force As far as details were concerned he couh not see how a territorial force on volun teer principles, where their members wer not sufficient and were supplemented b' men being balloted-in from the genera training section, was going to work satis factorilv. The proposal to raise the agi to 25 years would largely get rid of tin difficulty. There were other details hi had mentioned in tho House more witl the hope of having them considered thai with any idea of objecting to any Bill such for instance, as uniformity in es tablishment between ourselves and th Mother Country. The Prime Ministe hod pledged himself to this uniformit; when he was at Homo, and it was t' be hoped it would be maintained. Til Gazette, however, made the peace estah lishment of a New Zealand infantry com pany 84, whereas the war establishmen of a Home infantry company was 12C Tho peace establishment of a bal talion in New Zealand was 71( and in tho Territorials in Englan 1009. So far it had not been made clea what tho war establishment of a Nei Zealand infantry company ought to be but it ought at,any rate to be 120. on as far as he knew them the pence an war forces in this country were identi cal. If so, it appeared that New Zes land was not coming into uniformit iritfc tho Mother Country with her ir fantifr companies at 84. A Difficulty. Another difficulty arose with regard t the selection of only 20,000 men for tli Territorials under the proposed ne scheme. Between the ages of 18 and ' there were some 05,000 men in the 1>

minion, and to select 20,000 out of tho 05,000 was not an easy problem. As a matter of fact, tlio Home authorities recommended .30,000 for .New Zealand. His own opiuion was that tho way to meet the diiiieulty was lo make the exemptions fairly extensive, aud then to tram the rest. This would got over the groat difficulty of any selection by ballot or otherwise, wliich he did not* believe for a moment would be satisfactory. From what bad been stated Lord Kitchener's scheme .was to bo partially adopted. The Dominion was to be divided into the 28 lees districts that Lord Kitchener suggested, whicli was probably enough, and ten cadets were to be sent to tho Military College in Australia for training. One great difficulty would lie the officering of the. 28 districts, and, j as he had already said in the press, he did not think they could find in Kdw Zealand suilicient officers to properly take up these positions. If we coulcl not, ho would not hesitate to get them from outside, until wo could train our own. The cost of the scheme was set down at between .£3,50,000, and iHOI),000, which was, say, .£IBO,OOO above tho present cost, and for this we certainly should get something like efficiency, which we did not have new. Interference with Industry. There was another difficulty that had to bo met, and ho joined hands with the Prime Minister to persuade his countrymen to meet it—the difficulty with-re-gard to employment. There were bound to be some hardships and some interference with industry, but the . protection tlnit would be afforded to industry by an efficient force was by way of insurance, a worthy one for them to meet, and everybody ought to join hands and try to meet it. As a matter of fact, the experience of other countries was that the interference with industry was not as great as anticipated. In Switzerland, for instance, where many thousands of workers were employed 'in every branch of technical industry, and standing as it did in tho forefront of modern nations both in the output per head and in the quality of manufactures, they had found the universal military training did .not involve any appreciable interference with employment, and was regarded by em- ! ployers and employed alike as not only the • just and natural system for th<j de- ! fence of the country, but'as a valuable contribution to physical and industrial education. That was an extract from the preface written by Lord Roberts' to a book entitled "A Territorial Anny in Being." In the same book' there were further references to this question of employment. For instance: "During the main period of training in Switzerland, a period of three or four months, employers would be deprived of not more than I 2.5 of the nation's available labour, and of course in the case of the fortnight's ' training it .-would be much less than this, ©specially as all the • men would Le trained at the same time." In the same book it was stated: "It forms an integral part of the national education and conduced to the moral and physical welfare of the Swiss people. It brings together all classes of , the community in friendly comradeship and co-operation in the common cause, and appears to en* tail but slight interferenco with the industrial life of the people/' He made these extracts and offered no comment on them, because* he thought they answered the question with regard to employment. Our defence depended no doubt in the first instance upon supremacy at sea; then upon efficient home defence; and thirdly upon the power of mutual help. These were the principles laid down by the' Home authorities, and they could not be contraverted. We were preparing by our legislation, he hoped, for ,an efficient home defence, and possibly for mutual help in time of need. Naval Defence. • He wanted now to make some reference to the Sea Supremacy and Naval Defence Act, 1309. His audience was aware the Dominion had made provision to pay the cost • or an Indomitable, approximately two millions of money, with annual charges of £150,000 and £100,000 to help to man . it. When he spoke at Milton, some time ago, with regard to the Dreadnought offer, lie said he was entirely in accord with assisting tho Mother Country with a Dreadnought, or two or more if the need were shown for such, and he assumed that Sir Joseph Ward had in his possession information which led him to make the proposal, which information was not in tho possession of tho people. He regretted to say that in his opinion the country had been somewhat misled over this matter.. At an informal meeting of members of tho House, before Sir Joseph Word went Home, the question was discussed and it was clearly established that tho Prime Minister had used influences with the press—for what reason he-, knew not—but which certainly had very great effect in forming public opinion, A telegram was sent on March 22 last year, under strictly confidential conditions to the editors of papers impressing upon them, that the situation was much graver than was generally supposed or had been published. With regard to this telegram he was bound to say it was treating members of the House in an unfair way. It led newspaper editors to believe that the occasion was much more serious than appeared from the evidence that came out. Sir Joseph Ward had not one tittle of evidence in addition to what had already been published to* justify hira in telegraphing as ho did. That lie also influenced Cabinet in, as he (Mr. Allen) thought, an improper way was evidenced of Mr. Hogg after he leir, the Ministry when' he said such words as these: "The matter was placed before him as one of great urgency and an occasion of terrible • crisis, and that they must come, to the rescue of the Otd Country. As he had said he never hesitated, and never would hesitate, to come « ™, re £°" e of tho o,<i Country when the Old Country needed it, but he did think, in view of after events, that the House was to a large extent misled, and that our subsequent actions had not be«n in the interests of New Zealand and its national life. Regarding the decision of the Home authorities to placo New Zea- : land s Indomitable on. tho China Sta- , tion and (o lend, so to speak, somo of the cruisers, destroyers, and submarines, ho said that as. a self-respecting New Zealander he could not view with any satisfaction the proposal, to I have upon the N .New Zealand t coast, these vessels paid for by British . money and manned by British men. It J would have been very much better for : us to have put our money into these vesl sels. They were - intended for tho de- - fence of our shores and our trade Toutes, * 2: i % would havo, had some na- : tional pride in them, and a connection 7 I,' am J ft w °nld have been prej ferable to staking everything on a'China s Sea Indomitable. t 0 Increased Taxation. t Tho increase of expenditure upon de--1 fenco tho Prime Minister had used as a - means for extracting further taxation B out of the people. So far as he could ® gather, tho increased cost 011 account of c the defence proposals would be sornea thing liko £300,000 to £320,000; but the ! j increased taxation asked for in tlio Bud--11 get was £ HO,OOO, and it would be readj- ily realised that the defence proposals 0 were not tho only reason for the proy posed increase of taxation. Indeed, it it would be found that the superannuation schemes wero making themselves felt e upon the people, as ho (Mr. Allen) had I ■o said they would—the railwuys to tho ex•o tent of ,£25,000 a year, police to the exh tent of .£SOOO a year public servicc to n the-extent of .£20,000, and teachers to tho '» extent of £7000. and they knew in res' gard to the latter that it ought to bo ie .£17,000. What lie had to say was this: !r If there had been reasonable care taken y with regaru lo the expenditure, anil ;0 some cause shown in respect to remis'o sions of taxation there would have been no occasion for further taxation at all. !- The surpluses during past years had, it generally speaking, been fairly large, and taxation had been used for tho purt- pose of assisting the Public Works Fund. 0. Ho would not say that was wrong; but id it was heroic, and certainly the extra ir amount raised by taxation had led to the w extravagance going on. Did they want e . proof of the . extravagance, there 1( ] was no further argument needed 'd than the admission of the l'rime Minister that ho could save £250,2; 000 a year, and more than that, without ■J impairing the efficiency of the Civil Sen-ice. It was a pretty heavy burden to impose upon tho people in one session when new taxation to the extent of 9s. per head was placed upon them, because, to for or.o reason, the present Prime Jliu:ie ister and Treasurer had during his four 5w years of oilico increased expenditure over 25 his increased revenue to t-ho extent of 'o- .£215,000. That sort of thing could not

go on without increasing taxation. Then, very proporly, the Prime Minister had remitted the sugar duty of .£200,000 a year. Premier's Explanation Criticised. It was all very wall for the Prime Minister to try and explain, as he did try and explain, the increased taxation as represented by Mr. Massey ax «£ 1 7s. Id. in ten years. As a matter of fact, Mr. M'assev understated it. If lie had' included in tho increase local taxation in ton years it would have been XI los. 7d„ and now another 10s. was to go on. Sir Joseph Ward's explanation that this was duo to tho increase in values of laud did not get over the difficulty, as ho (Mr. Allen) understood it. At any rate, tho returns from the land had not increased in proportion to the increased values, nor was Sir Joseph Ward's statement with regard to remissions being .£•100,000 the whole truth. There bad been increases which he himself had admitted of .£107,000, and ho (the speaker) ventured to say there were a 'great deal 1 more, for under the preferential tariff! alone in 1900 there was a revenue col-1 1 lected of c£oo,ooo, and there had been. : increases of tho graduated land tax, some i of which the Opposition did not object to, 'though they certainly objected to that portion of it which proposed 25 per cent, extra on land not held for business premises, making a distinction between town and country which they thought unfair. With regard to the indirect taxation through tho Customs, as compared with other taxation, it had fallen during the last ten years by 9.3 per cent., whereas the direct taxation had risen that amount, and the fall during the last 17 years as regards the percentage of the total revenue was mostly in food and non-alcoholic drinks, namely, 20.05 per cent, to 4.48 per cent. If he had time that night he could go over the various Acts dealing with the Customs, and show that every time members of the Opposition had done their utmost to reduce the taxation upon food, and that more credit was due to them even than to the Government. A vote of thanks was accorded Mr. Allen for his address, and the meeting expressed its continued confidence in him as member for Bruce.