REFORM CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1129, 17 May 1911, Page 6

REFORM CAMPAIGN

. * . ! MR. J. ALLEN AT AUCKLAND.

REPLY TO MR. MILLAR.

\ DR.,JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. (By Telegraph.—Special Corrcspondont.l ! ' •' Auckland, May 16. ; Mr. James Allen, member for Bruce, de- ! livered a political address hero last evon- !; ing. -The Mayor of Auckland (Mr. C. J. ; • Parr);presided,and thero wero also seated j on tho platform Messrs. W.- F. Mossey, i M.P.'(Leader of tho Opposition), A. M. I Myers (member for Auckland City), L. K. Phillipps (member for Waitornata), and F. \ Lang (member for Mannkau). \ : In'introducing'Mr. Allen, the Mayor ! said that he should liko moro southern ■ , members of Parliament to visit Auckland. [ There seemed to be an idea in the south that;the north was a greedy cormorant, | insatiable in its demands upon the Trea- ; 6ury, .and tho most effective way to re- ; move'that impression was to induce the '■■ southern people to obtain the ovidence of ! their'own eyes that tho north was asking f- only.for its reasonable requirements in j the way of roads, and bridges,-and rail- | ways, : 'and other public services. j '■.' ' The Land Question. | Applause greeted Mr. Allen, who said !. that the real southern politician had no : parochial feeling that prevented him from : Tuilising that money, from tho Treasury .was required to 'develop' the resources of . tho northern provinces. Speaking at I Taumaruniii,Mr. W. T. Jennings,,M.P.,-' I had said that the progress made in that j- district was concrete evidence of the suc- ! cess of the Government's land settlement I policy, but he (Mr. Allen) doubted very \ m'uch whether, the pcoplo themselves were j ~ satisfied.'' The Government had -done virtually nothing to develop the Native !. lands", for, according to the Acting-Mini- [ 6ter for Lands, the Government had in I the last twenty years expended 41997,000 I for.the purchase of Native lands, while ' the expenditure upon lands for settlement ;;■' in the .'same period had-been. .£6,000,000. ; That was not-justico to the North Island. f'". ... Finance, i I In his speech' at Dunedin the Hon." J. j- 'A. Millar had declared that tho Govr eminent had underestimated the revenue [ by. 41085,000. That amount included tho. !.. graduated income tax. for which the ' Prime Minister had forgotten to provide. ! The Customs duties had been underh, estimated by .£177,000. Mr. Massey had | proposed to wipe out the primage duty, : aud that would have saved the country f 4:70,000 or ,£BO,OOO which could well have ;.: been dispensed with. The estimate of j . the railway revenue had been exceeded i . by 4233,000,. though Mr. Millar, after increasing tho taxation by raising tho rates : by ,£IOO,OOO, had estimated the profit at less.. than in the previous, year. These -facts wero 'not evidence of satis- •. factory financial methods. Mr. Millar ■', had assured his audience in Dunedin that the taxation of the country had not . been increased except so far,as those who ,-' were ablo to bear it, "tho friends of Mr. Massey," were concerned. The people wero not going to ho deceived by such'.twaddle, for tho Government had lich friends as well'as tho Opposition. As . a matter of fact tho land . tax was less by 4113,000 than in the previous year, the surplus was enormous, and the reason" was that' moro money had been taken . from the pockets of taxpayers than was necessary. Additional taxation had been imposed for the payment for tho Dread-nought,-and .for the defence scheme, but the expenditure under tho.se heads during tho past year had not exceeded 4260,000, and almost the whole of the 4300,000 realised by that taxation had been included in, the surplus. Last year, Mr. Allen said, Parliament had voted nearly .4:3,000,000 for public works, .but . the Executive, whose duty it was to fulfil tho will of Parliament, had underexpended the appropriations by over • 4:1,000,000. For roads and bridges "Parliament had voted' 455G,000,. but it appeared that only 4220,000 or .4230,000 had been expended.

The Railways.

•■ Mr. Millar had announced tEaf; the railways had paid £\ Is. Gd. per cent during tho last year. For'years and \ years tho general taxpayers had ' been ; making up loss on tho railways and it i . was a very proper'reforni that Mr. MilI lar had introduced, that tho railways and i every other public service undertaken by ;. . the Government should pay their own : way, though the Prirao Minister did not agree with Mr. Millar. No one- knew how the capital account of. tho railways was :_ mado up, or what interest was being i paid on the money borrowed for railway \ .;construction. If the, railways wero put (upon a sound business,basis tho Minister > (must add .'the' interest of -£50,000 which' i }was being paid each year upon the incomplete railways, and he must also provide 'for the. increase in the debt of .£4,000,000 owing to conversions.. Tho people had a right to information regarding the arrangements and tho cost of raising loans, but for four, years that information hail been refused. "Led by the Nose." The Opposition had endeavoured.to•,remedy that state of affairs, but. the Go- .; vernmout; followers had been led by tho i. nose, and the proposal had been defeated. ;■ 'Iho Opposition was opposed to the Go- ! vernment because -of its plunging policy, ; au instance of which was tho fact that the railways. were costing ,£2012 per milo more than they did eleven years ago, and that increase was not explained by tho fact that the lines were being more substantially constructed. .Money was wasted 1 by unsound engineering, unsound inspection, and unsound principles of construction that had afterwards to be rectified at the expense of tho taxpayers. The Prime Minister had two minds about borrowing money. He was Df. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In the House he had proposed that all borrowing should cease in' fifteen years, but'at Ashburtoii he had declared that if the country ceased to borrow the rate of interest would go up like the cork from d bottle of soda water. Mr. Massey had a clear-cut, decisive policy with regard to tho settlement of tho land, but on, the other side were indecision no mind, no policy, and a Bill which had been brought forward "with tho Minister's colours nailed to it" had gone into the gutter, and tho colours with it, and tho Minister had remained in office. The Government's policy, was to leave everything to futurity. Professing to be. the friends of the small farmers tho Government had introduced Clause IS, which provided that a man holding 2500 acres of third-class land, or 333 acres of first-class ■ land, should-forfeit his leasehold and render himsolf liable to five years' imprisonment if ho leased additional land from his neighbour. That clause had been defeated through tho efforts of tho Opposition.

What the, Opposition Wants, v "Tho Opposition stands for sound finance," Mr. Allen concluded. "We are striving for a reform of tho Upper Houso and of tho conditions in which the Lower House does its work. We want to prevent injustice to tho Natives and to everybody else, but wo want the land opened under secure tenures. Wo want the Courts of Justice absolutely, freedom any inflnence, to remove patronage, and to lighten the burdens of the people, and wo seek to encourage individual effort and to provide equality of opportunity." The, address was followed with close interest and at its conclusion the meeting unanimously carried a motion, proposed by Mr. Archibald Clark and seconded by Mr. If. Farrell, thanking Mr. Allen for his address and expressing "tho highest appreciation of tho work which Mr. Allen and his friends in Parliament are doing in the interests of tho people in the Dominion."