DEMOCRATIC IDEALS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1158, 20 June 1911, Page 6

DEMOCRATIC IDEALS.

MR. FISHER AT PETONE; i i WHAT THE COUNTRY REALLY ' NEEDS. ! . CHANGE BADLY WANTED, i ■. ; t . —; —r . . | , Mr. F. St. B. Fisher, M.P.: for :.Wel- : * lington Centrid, had a very successful 1 • meeting at Petono last' evening,- when lie addressed an audience of about' 500 elecj tors on the political questions of: the'day, j Mr. J. W. MUwan (Mayor of I'etone) pre- ! Bided, and introduced Miv Fislier in a J brief gpeeoli. • • i Having expressed regret at tlio illness of | the member for Hutt (Mr.' t T. M. Wilfor'd), Mr. Fisher dealt in detail with an articlc i iu the local paper, wherein lie had- been L accused of delivering ;a "humble jumble" j oration. ■ i : Mr.' Fisher explained at some length the | reasons which had induced 'him to join j the Opposition party. Ho was not in en- ■ tire agreement .with either party, he said, ' and,-indeed, had never been a believer j.\ in the party system, but he had joined j tho party which he thought most likely l to serve the interests of the country. The 0, Independent, taking a lonely sta-nd, could \1 accomplish nothing. "Wo would do betV_ r tet.in :tliis conn try," said Mr. Pislicr, "if f ve had proportional voting." Proceeding U- from the question, "Why-has; tho cost of living gone upr" Mr. Fisher remarked f, that it was odd that the margin upon an | x . average labourer's earnings was no greater at the end of twenty years of aristocratic . motor-car "Liberalism" than it was at tho i beginning of that period. From tho Libh cral" platform to-dty people were j assured that ' the Masscy party i .was . a retrograde party. Tho 1. 'speaker would venture to say that there .was more honest radicalism'in the Opposition than in the ranks of the party in .power. •

Burying Prosperity. *\ Retrenchment had been.;, promised, tut ! the Departments wore J now fuller than I aver,/and the money borrowed by tho Gov- ; -emmest was being dissipated in cstrava- ' gance. The Government hail powcr without going again to Parliament, to borrow ■four ■millions and a half.-' On Mr.--.31i1! ! lar's.own showing, only 77. percent of the f New.. Zealand national debt >was,reproducI tive, while in Victoria 97 per cent, of the i -debt'was reproductive. 'While Victoria !' had borrowed 5 millions in the last flvo !■■' years, New Zealand had borrowed 21 mil- } lions. From the attitude of the. Pre- ; - tuier and his colleagues, said Mr. Fisher, ; it was evident that they had no concep- !. tion of the value of money. Extravagances had gone on year after year, because the men opposed to the Ministry | 'had 'hot travelled the country as .they ; should have done. This time an effort .would bo made to let the people know •what was going on. In a year, that had I - .broken all records ofipro'duction, the land ! tax had gone downy while. the revemio, | .from Customs had .increased enormously, i The Government, would;say;; that the'-land tax ; had gone downf-because big .estates i had been broken .lip. ' If. that were true, ; why was it .that the population of Hawke's Bay.and. of Wairarapa, two of'the most | fruitful districts in the country, had gone ! down] in the last five years? These were i problems that no one could answer. The | simple fact was that the Government was : , burying up the prosperity of.the country year, by year. New Zealand would never [■ be rid of this evil until it put a party ; in powev that would break tho spell. : "If you have no faith in "Ward,",, said I Mr. Fisher, "and no faith.in.Massey,, at • anyrato you will get. something out of 1 chaos! If you put Jlassey is nowyi.you i will, get chaos.. Tho'men;wlio no\vvsticli,; : like barnacles, to the'party in ppweri in' the. hope of receiving gifts, would* drop, off. Then there would be a.'possibility,-of ; a new party springing'up."' (Appkuse.)' Truths About Oheap Money. One of the blots on; the Liberal policy,, continued Mr...;Fisher,..was-the' i"cheap" money" scheme. It nvas "actually, cno.'of. the greatest curses with., which' New. Zea- ' land had ever been afflicted. It was alleged .that" making money ' cheap had got rid of tho man who farmed the farmer. : • Actually it had driven up the value of land. It had,not made wool grow longer or grass thicker, but men who. knew that they could get money for four instead of six per cent, could afford to pay more for land. In the event the price of land had gone.-up' enormously.- The cheap money !'• scheme 'had also driven private capital out of the country. THo result was that : thousands of men" in . New. Zealand to-day ' had got rich' th'ey knew- ; ri,ot.-how. These • were the fruits, .of' .the T cheap'' money scheme. "(Applause.) ■ The Land Tax. .— At the present'time,-said Mr. Fisher, touching npon the 'land question, the nu.nlier of large landholders -was on tho . increase.' Fruitful • districts like Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa, instead of gaining J population, were being-depopulated. Fer- ! sonally, in dealing with this problem, lie ■ would bring.down the liiuit at which the wiper land tax started from JMO.OOfI to ,£25,000. (Applause.) .If that did not answer ho would increase tho tax, or, if necessary, bring down the limit still further. As in a previous address, Mr. Fisher advocated tho abolition of the Arbitration Court, and the ! substitution for it of Wages Boards on I the Victorian plan.

: What ,Is Really Wanted. Mr. Fisher said he would not ask liis hearers to support either a Government, Opposition, or Independent candidate at the coming election. He would ask them to" try to understand what was ; wrong with this, country, why it was that New •Zealand people were going off the land, and that'linore peoplo'went to Australia than came back, only because land was cheaper there. Above all "things, his hearers should send men to Parliament who would'.-stop extravagance. If the country, were' honestly governed, it would be possible to save a million a year in the expenditure of Government. Departments. Tho Government had enjoyed too long a lease of power. "'What in roallv wanted in tho politics of this country,'' concluded Mr.;;. Fisher, "is to push through tho window all tho obsolete men that there are in polities at tho present time. We thank them for their services, but now give tho. young progressive radical New Zealand® a chance to take tho reins and ride this country for a year or two, and see how he gets on." (Applause.), If his hearers thought, as tho Tiewspapers might say, thai Mr. Fisher held these radical ideas alone, and could not get "his; party, to. support him, .then they, must tend the men into the party .who would support Mr. Fisher. If the party v,Vis hot in accord with democratic ideals, it must be democratised. To <fc: .niocratiso tho party in power was impossible: , - .:

Answering questions, .Mr. Fisher said l Ke was in favour of a bare majority vote' on the question of Dominion option. Ho agreed that tho Government cheap money' scheme had been a blessing to a great .many people. It had put millions into the .wroug pockcts. He would not abolish" either Advances to Settlers or Advances' to Workers, but he would not grant a Joan to a man who could get the money in tho open market. Theso Departments should have been used as a regulator and not as a monopoly. ' Moving a Vote of thanks to the speaker, Mr. P. C. i rcoth remarked that Mr Jnsher's outspokenness on the subjects of land aggregation and cheap money might get hi,m into trouble with his party leaders. The vote was carried by acclamation