REFORM CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1142, 1 June 1911, Page 6

REFORM CAMPAIGN

FIGHTING SPEECH BY MR. FISHER TELLING CRITICISM. FACTS ABOUT THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. INCREASING BURDENS. Mr. F. M. B. Fisher, M.P. for Wellington' Central, addressed a gathering of his constituents last evening that comfortably filled St. Peter's Hall, Ghuzne Street- Mr. P.'C. Freeth presided, ami briefly introduced the speaker. ' In opening his address, Mr. loshor made passing reference to his recent visit to Australia, claiming that ho had rendered some service to the people of the Commonwealth by his activity during he Referenda •' campaign, although his speeches, save one, had been ignored by the New Zealand papers. He had como back with stronger views than When he went away, with views that did not reflect any more, highly upon the conduct of tho Government in offico at the present time. ■■■ For four years ho had been an Independent; but ho stood this time as a party man, pure and simple. The mem- ' bers of the Opposition party, Mr. Fisher added, 'wero not tied.to one another by •similar views on every subject, but nevertheless the party ..was united upon .nearly every snbjeot of importance that came , Wiiiia the realm of politics. Imperial Affairs. ' Touching on Imperial affairs, Mr. Fisher 'expressed gratification at the tact that the Consultative Council '$», Hiat Mid-summer night's dream of. Sir Joseph .Ward," hall' hot -been realised." ' ine Trim© Minister's unfortimato nianiathe borrowing mania-had signally failed to make' any impression on a conference of Liberal Prime Ministers, and they had treated with scant courtesy, tho farcical •.proposal submitted by-Sir -Joseph Ward. "Whilo we aro'loyal,"' continued Jlr. 'Fisher, "there lias been just'a little too [much defence expenditure put upon us during the last-two, years.' .The sum ot ! £10,000 paid- -towards the,. upkeep ■'of the Australian',.Navy « in ™8 ■ had been increased:, to ■ £100,000. iOn top of that,, without, consulting larliaIment, hut consulting;.,newspaper editors, I tho Primo Minister presented. Great BriItain with a Dreadnought/-,which meant I an additional burden of £150,000 a year, iNow the.country was asked; to foot the bill for a compulsory training scheme. Expenditure on defence had risen from £350,000 to £650,000 in the last two or three years. New Zealand was paying annually i Is." per head of population more than Australia towards the cost of the Navy; five times as much as- Natal or Capo Colony, and eight times as.'-miicU as Newfoundland. Canada .paid nothing at all, but .provided in .part for'her own coast de- ■ tC While declaring himself glad that the consultative scheme .has "gone under, Mr. Fisher expressed' a hope that sooner or later some Imperial'scheme would be evolved that would draw- the units of the Empire closer together. . Borrowing and .^Taxation. I Turning to local affairs, Mr. Fisher j quoted a statement made by the Hon. John Bryce in'lß9l: "I will, ay this dowji as a hard and fast rule; that borrowed money, if the country has-a great, deal, of it, will induce expensive habits. i\o truer words, said Mr Fisher, had ever been uttered. The Premier, who, torrowed millions as ho had.borrowcd his policy, would be known to, those coming, after us ns "The Coronation Plunger. (Laughter and'applause.) ;' Tho Government, Mr. Fisher continued had talked retrenchment,"but during its :erm the annual cost of the Departments lad increased by £1,781,000. The Government had power at _ the present time. without ■'■ going again to Parliament for authority to borrow £4,200,000. Last year it borrowed six and ■a half, millions. Next year loans totalling six and a naif .millions fell due. for renewal. Some loans, .-though . raised as recently as 1905,y fell-;due again in 191' When they • fell due, no matter whether the Government had received only £96 per hundred, for'the money in. 1908, they would have to .pay the full hundred on the loan :iir.1912,. plus the cost of renewal. Next' year ,this~country had to find six and a'half .millions. "I should love!to have.heard the Hon. 'J A Millar criticising tho-statement he ; made recently in Dunedin, from the Opi position -standpoint; .as, he would have i done five years ago." remarked Mr. Fisher. Mt. Millar, he proceeded, had stated that the revenue of the country exceeded the expenditure by over a million and ■ a quarter. . What did this, represent.-' ! Just the measure of over-taxation that 'tho Government was taking, out of tho people. (Applause.) The production' of .the surplus meant that every man, woman, and child in tho country had ibeen bled to tho tuno of 235. in absolutely unnecessary taxation. "It was a (measure of financial murder and nothing 'else," declared Mr. Fisher. "It was not to be justified on any grounds whatever." "Impertinent Bluff." Mr. Fisher.characterised as.impertinent bluff tho challenge of Mr. Millar to Mr. .' Massey or anybody elso to "show that : taxation .had been increased. Customs ' alone acconnted for an increased revenue .of £357,000. Tho land tax had dropped by £13,517, which was strange, in view : of Mr. Fowlds's statement thai the Opposiiftn party was. in league with the man with the big purse. By means of increased rates, railways had been made by tho lion. J. A. Millar himself to produco an increased revenue 'of £225,000. Tho Stamps Department showed an increased revenue of £280,000. Three Departments accounted " between them for an increased revenue of £871,000. In spite of these facts the Government did not say: "Wo are taking too much revenue from the people, and will reduce taxation." Instead, they were going to perform tho wonderful feat of transferring £800,000 to the Public Works Fund-to "buy districts with.

Introducing a comparative statement of Victorian aud New Zealand statistics, Mr. Fishsr remarked that he was not a pessiinist, and not an optimist in tho Government sense of the word, bathe believed no country in Australasia had the potentialities of New Zealand. At the same time he had come back from Australia realising that thero were Australian States better .off than New Zealand, bc-cau-o they were freer from tho curse of borrowing. Its natural advantages should enable New Zealand to occupv and hold a position far better than that of-Vic-toria, but this. was. not borno - out. in actual fact. : Victoria had 50 million acres of land that could bo used. New •Zealand had 57 million acres. In Victoria. 37 million acres were settled, in New Zealand 38 millions. Tho population of Victoria was 1,297,557, that of New Zealand 1,012,997. Yet Victorian imports exceeded those of New Zealand by 13 millions per year. The total trade of Victoria was <£10 more per head than in New Zealand. In making a comparison of public debt, Mr. Fisher stated that he had not included last year, when New Zealand borrowed millions, but had taken tho previous eight years. In that period the Victorian debt increased by .£5,020,922. In the samo period the New Zealand debt . increased by .£21,317,289. Although it was not so fine a country as New Zealand, added Mr. Fisher—it had 15,000 people less on the land than this Dominion—Victoria was building up manufneturies and was even exporting articles to Nov/ Zealand that could very well be made hero. (Hear, hear.) Harassing; Conditions. This progress was to bo attributed to the fact that even Labour Governments in Australia did not impose on tho people the harassing, conditions that they wcro being subjected to at tho present time in New Zealand. "I had rather sco a Labour Government in power here than the present party," declared Mr. Fisher, and the audience cheered. The debt per head, continued the speaker, was £M in Victoria and .£7O in New Zealand. Victoria had 93 per cent of its loans expended on reproductive works. The speaker believed that fi3 oer

cent of the New Zealand loans had been expended reproductivcly, but Mr. Millar placed it,at 77 per cent. lie might have ft at that. . It meant that a smaller population in New Zealand had to find interest on 23 per cent of 75 millions, while the peoplo of Victoria only had to find 7 per cent of 51 millions. (Applause.) In addition to tho national -debt tho people of this country had to bear enormous municipal' obligations. ' This stale of affairs was having such an effect-that the peoplo were leaving New Zealand and going to Australia, -livery boat, went away full and came back half-full.; "Does it not occur to cverv individual in this country," said Mr. Fisher, "that tho greater out prosperity tho more we borrow; and the more wo borrow, tho more wo are taxed? In prosperity our taxation is being increased at the rate of a million a year. Does it not make you wonder what is going lo happen .if anything should happen to our produce on foreign markets?" . A Serious.Problem. Continuing, Mr.'"Fisher declared that, he had not met a single financier in politics in Australia who could see any solution of the problems New Zealand would' have to face if her trade received- such a blow ns he had indicated. "They don't .know how our obligations are to be met under adverse circumstances;" said the member for Wellington Central, "and neither do I. I believe wo have, hero the finest State in Australasia, without a shadow of doubt, and I don't think, it could possibly bo managed worse than it is being managed at the present time. (Applause.) „. , In eight years, stated Mr. Fisher, continuing his comparison, tho Government of Victoria found it necessary to increase its revenue by half a million. New Zealand had increased its revenue in the same period by throe and a half millions. Expenditure had, of course,. increased m tho samp proportion. - As to Customs. Victoria collected £2,201,638 from 1,2?,, 000 people. New Zealand collected £2,603,G1< from 1,042,000 people. people paid more than ...£400,000 m°ro in Customs duties, than, the .people ot Victoria. Yet Victoria had n world-wido reputation as a highly-protected country. (Applause.) Considering the amount of land available for fruit-growing that lay vacant in. New Zealand, contended Mr. ; Fisher, it was-disgraceful that the country should import annually fruit valued at .£199,000 from Australia and America. Dealing with the question of manufactures, Mr. Fisher stated that if there were no other way of stopping the irapor ation of articles like clothing made % sweated labour abroad, that could easijy he made locally, ho would favour a revision of the rnriff No duty, however, should bo levied on"articles that could not be produced here.

What the Opposition Would Do. They had been asked, the other night, what Acts the Opposition would repeal -what Acts it would put in operation. Far a start, said Mr. 'Fisher, he would .like to see the.Land Act repealed. Jtteae*re»ation was proceeding apace. . J. no Opposition would introduce a provision to prevent reaggregahui if returned to power. The Arbitration Act should Tie repealed, and the Court replaced by Wag s Boards on the plan adopted in Victoria and New South Wales. (Applause.) The would repeal all Acts tnat nposed unnecessary taxation. They would repeal the Act by which the present Legislative Council was constituted. (Applause.) Other measures the Opposition would repeal were the Land; Valuation AcTand P tho Second Ballot Act (to bo replaced by a Proportional tion Act). They would repeal the present system of allocating money for public works, by which the the favour of districts throughout tno country. (Applause. Also, the Opposite would P bring about a reduction of national extravagance. This would be quite a progressive policy. Among measures that the Opposition won d wtodnce Mr. Fisher named a Land Act, Proportional Eeprcsentation,.Postal \otmg an .amendment in the tariff designed to shut 'Z. foreign sweated goods,-Civil Service Board. Local Government Bill Elective Legislative Council, and Native Land Bill. In addition, the Opposition would bring in a railway expert to tell how. the railways lno administrative methods'of the Government, Mr. Fisher complained that information was denied to Opposition members, although it was made freely available to Government sup.V case had been brought to his knowledge in which a man had been refused Government employment. Mr. I'ishcr quoted from a letter written by a Government officer, in which it was stated that tho man in question had lumselt chiefly to blame for not grttmg employment in tho Public Works Department. He had been noticed in communication with menibers on the Opposition side of tho House. This sort of thing, contended Mr. Fisher, made the case for setting up a Civil Service Board irresistibly strong. "Capitalist by Instinct." Rebutting a statement by Mr. Fowlds at Fukckohe, associating the Opposition with the wealthy section of the population, Mr. Fisher pointed out that three members of the Government, Sir Joseph Ward. Mr. Fowlds, and- Dr. Findlay. wero "capitalists by instinct." (Applause.) In addition, Government nominees in the Legislative Council, and. supporters in and out of Parliament, were among tho wealthiest men in the country. "Kennedy Macdonald," suggested -an interjector. "I don't put him in." said Mr. Fisher, "l>»caiiso he nearly left the party.'' A party that took an additional" £357,000 ~ont of the peoplo in Customs duties, while th? land revenue dropped ■ by £H,OOO, had no reason to ask who were friends of tho capitalistic class. Turning to the subject of the Legislative Council, Mr. Fisher remarked that 40 out of its 42 members had been nominated by tho present Government. A voice: Dead-beats! "I don't know,", said Mr. Fisher, "but some of them are wealthy men drawing an annual,pension of £200 a year, who yet have never uttered a word in Parliament." If the people would only take a proper interest in this question, ho added, it might bo possible' to carry the Teform that some members had been advocating for j-ears. "A Very Extraordinary Place."

... "This Legislative Council is a very extraordinary place," remarked Mr. Fisher, and he proceeded ta state that in 190!) ho introduced an important Bill which passed the Lower House. It was rejected in the Legislative Council on tho motion of the Hon. T. K. Macdonald. Next year the Government reintroduced the same Bill. On this occasion Mr. Macdonald forgot to movo his motion to "A clause was added to the Judicature Bill by the Legislative Council last session,"'continued Mr. Fisher, "which enabled the judges tho other day to discharge Mr. Macdonald. The clause was added by the Statutes Revision Committee of the Legislative Council." A voice: Was Macdonald one of the Revision Committee? Mr. Fisher: I could not say. Dr. Findlav certainly would be. '"I say that in this country, remarked Mr Fisher, "there is a law for the rich and a law for tho poor." (Loud applause.) "It was an iniquitous rransa At the close of his address Mr. Fisher answered a number of questions. A resolution of thanks and confidence was carried almost unanimously, on the motion of Mr. J. Chapman. ADDRESS BY MR. MASSEY. (By TeleEraph.—Press Association.! Ashburton, May 31. The Leader of the Opposition addressed a meeting of six hundred people in the Theatre Royal to-night, tho ■Mayor presiding. The address was on the lines of those delivered elsewhere. A vote (fj thanks was carried by acclamation at the close. _______

Mr. V. E. Smith, agent, Feilding, has a number of farms for sale. A stock sale will be held at Palmerston North to-day. A special announcement appears in this issuo rcforring to Van Houten's cocoa. Messrs. Thompson and Co. hygienic bakers and pastrycooks, Courtenay Place, have a special announcement in this issue. A goose belonging to Mr. F. Dauzie, of Castle Hedinghara, has laid an egg measuring a foot and a quarter in circumference lengthways, and weighing . 10io_