FIGHT FOR REFORM.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1184, 20 July 1911, Page 6

FIGHT FOR REFORM.

IR. MASSEY AT AUCKLAND. A GREAT MEETING. | MAORI , LAND QUESTION. EFFECTIVE REPLY TO SIR : > JAMES CARROLL. < (Bj Telegraph.—Press Association.* Auckland, July 19. One', of tho largest political gatherings :ld "in Auckland for a long tirno past iolc, place in the Choral Hall this evenig. when a speech was delivered by Mr. 1. 'Massey, M.l'., Leader of tho Opbsition. Tho building wzis filled in all artij/and a large number of people, esti.ated •' at a thousand, were uuable to jin -admission. The Mayor (Mr. C. J. arr) "presided. ... , t Mr.-Massey, who was received with loud pplanse, stated that tho curso of the resent party system was the system of olitibM patronage that obtained. They 11 'knew now just prior to the elections romis'cs were • freely made-promises to idividuals, localities, and sections of the jniniunity. As hud been admitted by le Prime Minister, on being interviewed i - America, tho policy ..of tho !Now /eamd Government was to find out what the eople ; wiVuied ailid ■ .to 1 hen give It to aein. (Laughter.) Mr. Massey then reirred to ttie different. planks of tho ipposition policy as outlined in Vi■ ellingih. In referring to financial matters ho lid that Sir, James Carroll, the Acting'rimo Minister, had admitted that the üblic debt of the Dominion amounted to. :§1,000,000, and that it had increased by ML',OOO,OOO odd during,.the time that the arty now in ptiwer had been in oihee.' to, (Mr. .Massey) referred' to what had ccurred twenty years ago, and, 'to the deartiire from-Mr. Ballnnco s.policy of nonorrowing and self-reliance. In order to how how tho increase of .the debt, had r'own, h'o .quoted the figures ill the past' jur fire-yearly periods.' 'J/'voin 1891 ,to, lt>J6,. he debt "had increased ,by 4'j. millitfns ; rom 1896-to'l9ol bv G'.- millions; from 1901 X 1908 by 121 millions; wjiilst , during lie last. , five . years ..the, increase' rid Tdcgiv no Irks than 18i millions. -VNluit 'onld it' be during' the next five years? ,iist year alone the increase, totalled G; lillio'ns. He also referred to extra taxaion, and to the exodus as .in his Welington speech, and In,tills connection he emarked that'ho was not of those rlw wero going to pack their carpet bags n"d go .off at;■ the -.first '.opportunity., Laughter.) He dealt with, the question £ borrowing, .and. emphasised , ; his „pre■ious" protest' against the action of the iovernme'nt- in refusing, to give details f .the cost of raising recent loans as had teen; done in previous years. >

, Land Hunger. -•He also spoke on tlie Crown land and Native , land questions as .at Wellington, .'here was, he said, a genuine,land huner';at' the , present time, and he- hud lever known ' such a ' large number ■ of ieople on' the search for..' land .as at iresent. In various-parts of the country here were, huge blocks of .Crown land fin); idle..Sufficient-inducement w'as not; leld out to the people of New Zealand to 'con the land, and they, wore going ;to' lan'ada and Australia.-. Some Of the. yer.y. iest.isettlerg were being lost t6- the; cOun-ry'-beeans® .the Government made no pro*; ision.to. open up th'e„;land.- As, .long as. re had an aero of unoccupied land, and s long as we had a settler willing to ;o on that land, we should givo him'the InpOrhraity of doing so. (Loud applause.) ifr ."'.Massey referred to the .Settlement of ho 1 Native lands and the uplifting of ho .Native people as the most important hing that Parliament had to deal with :t the present time.. (Applause.) Sir 'am'es <Carr6ll>had ,challenged his -(Mr. itassey's) figures,. but, liis figures were 'aken from official records. The last eturn on tho subject ; showed that the sren. held by Natives was 7.-101.0(10 acres. Chat wasn't all unoccupied land. He (Mr. ilasioy). had never -sctid. it, -was. :On ieptember 30, 1009. there .were -H,994,000 cres. of unoccupied -Native land. >Sir as. Carroll had retorted, What about he pakoha landlords? • He (Mr. Massey) iad no piore objection to Maori lande ords than, he had to pakeha landlords, ;lid no more objection to both than to itato landlordism. He objected to landlordism altogether. (Loud applause.) He ras thoroughly and heartily opposed to Sny system of. landlordism; He wanted o "pco in this country the lands, occiipicd iy a class of yeomanry owning and. qcnipyin'g their owii holdings. (Prolonged tpplause.) Sir Jas. Carroll said there vere 133 . pakelia.' landlords who owned (1,000,0(10 acres of land. As a, matter.of act there were no such people. He said t. advisedly. There- was not a man in *<ew Zealand who owneil 100,000 acres of 'reehold. And yet Sir James,Carroll said here were 133 of $em. (Laughter.) The Icting-Prime Minister had the audacity 0. declare that, thirty-three, million acres rere owned by 133' men. Tliere .were only .6,000,000 acres of freehold land in the vholo. country.. (Laughter and applause.) ffe had travelled throughout the North if .'Auckland; and there- had seen huge jlocks of Native land that never paid a rapper in taxes. This land was rapidly ittaining a hug« value through the inlitstry of tho white settlers, round. about t, and all along the Main .Trunk line ;he same condition of "affairs prevailed, ind the land was overrun by -noxioiu .veeds. One of-the best, suggestions lie iad had came from a member of the Sative raee.i This'man said that when 1. Native was aii intelligent 'matt mid illlc to speak the English language,, and tblo to' satisfy some reasonable tribunal :hat ho was able to' manage liis own affairs, why should not lie bo allowed to' Ip eo? (Applause.) . . '

Mo'kau Lands Cass. Mr. Massey then, spoke at length on. the Mokau lands ..ease, saying that the lawyers who acted for the individual who. jwned the mortgage., and who was purshasing from the Natives, wero Messrs. Findlay, Dalziell and Co., and the gentle- j man who .signed the Order-in-Council I |vas Si! .las. Carroll, Aciing-Prime Min-- j ister, and the chairman of the syndicate which secured tho land was an tx-Minister for Lands with stroilg ' leasehold proclivities (Mr. E. M'Nab). He ■ (Mr. Massey) wanted! to sco the Nativo ' lands occupied, but what lie wanted to know was,why was not sufficient land reserved for the Native, people, 1 anil why did not tho Government insist on that salo being under tho limitation clauecj with the optional tenure, so that no man could have secured more than the limit? (Applause.) Or why. didn't, the Government purchase tho land and utilise it for Buropean settlers? (Loud applause.) Ho (Mr. Massey) was going to call for an 'inquiry. in, the House of ( Applause.) He wanted to know why 50,000 acres had been allowed to pass into tho hands of a gang of speculators, instead of the hands of bona-fido settlers. "Sir .Tames Carroll says,"-added Mr. Mas. aey, "that I know nothing of N'ative lands. Thank God I don't know as much as lie does. 1 never trafficked in an acre, of Nativo land, nor has any member of tho Opposition, but I know quite a number on the Government side who have been interested in Native lands. I am going to force the matter to a division." (Applause.) . | Opposition Platform. The speaker went on to Tefer to other planks in the Opposition platform, such as reform of the Legislative Council, reform of the public service and elimination of political influence, and reform of local bodies' finance, on the lines of previous Kixx'ches. In regard to his advocacy) of a scheme for insuring workmen against sickness and unemployment, he said that some neople might say that he copied from Mr, T,!nyd-Gcorgi\ tmt the latter, ho said, had taken it from the German system. Tn regard to labour matters, ho said Hint what was wanted was more co-onera-tion and confidence between employed and employer. "Ho admitted that it wns-neces-sary to have labour laws. (A voire: "TTnw long is it sine? you found that out?") He had supported every single Inbour measure. (Applause.) He claimed that the' Opposition platform was the most Liberal..most progressive, and most democratic that had ever been put forward bv any political party in this country, (A voicßi -".Will you carry, it out

if ytiu get into power?") If, said Mr. Massey, ho did not intend to carry it out ho would not put it forward, and lie would support every plank of it, even if tlw other party brought it down. He claimed that the money in the Post Office Savings Bank should be available for borrowing by settler*, and that the mortgage tax 'should be removed. In regard to tlio Dreadnought gift, lie said that he was an Imperialist to his finger-tips, but he objected to the gift beiiiß made without Parliament being consulted. Liberalism, he said, had lost; its meaning of late. Formerly it nieant tho promotion of the interests of tho people, but it now seemed to staud for the promotion of the 'interests of the party in power, pandering to personal vanity, wasteful extravagance, the increase of tiiu public debt and taxation, the spendiug of public money lor party purposes, and tho punishment of politicians and newspapers who showed any independence. True Liberalism would nover die, but a. liberalism that was founded on a policy of spoils to the victors and wasteful extravagance should not be permitted to live, and he hoped that it would die a sudden and painless death. (Applause.) Mr. Ma=sey had an excellent hearing, and his remarks wero punctuated with frequent applause. In reply to quistions, Mr. Massey said that he was in favour of compulsory military training, with the religious exemptions provided for in the Act. As to the local option question, concerning which a question was asked, he said that this was .1 non-party matter. He was willing to State his own views on the bare majority question when ho was asked to do so by an elector of Franklyn, but not otherwise. , The Resolution. Tho following motion was proposed by Mr. E. Ct. B. Moss, and seconded by Mr. J. G. Rutherford :~ ( "That, this meeting, of. Auckland. . citizens thanks Mr.' Massey 'very heartily for his interesting and lucid exposition of the political situation, congratulates him upon the able and statesmanlike policy ho has unfolded on behalf of the Opposition party,' and wishes him every success in His desiro to secure more economical administration and genuino reform in the government oi tho country."

. A young nian 'whoso name was not dis-closed-intimated that,he desired to move an amendment on'the ground that Mr. Massey. had not mndo the position of his party clear, in regard to the local option question. (Voices:,. "Yes,' yes, ho has.") The lamendment was that Mr. Massey bo accorded 'a. yoto\of thanks only.. The amendment, not being seconded lapsed. Tho motion was then put and declared carried amidst'loud applause, and the meeting closed with cheers for Mr. Massey.