"Vacillating and Incompelent."

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1276, 3 November 1911, Page 6

"Vacillating and Incompelent."

If elected, ho would vote agninsl, the Got eminent on a no-confidence mo! ion. its record during tho past fivo years showed that it had outlived its usel'nl'ln(' shown a lanionlalile want ol policy, and had proved itself wrnk. vacillating, and inrompolent. Its a<L ministration had been faulty i„ the extreme. It had ljoen guilty of exrei-iivo borrowing and of unconstilutioual proeedurc. Reconstructions of the Cabinet since the time of Mr. Seddon's death had wi "' I'o.wnl to part v. the Hon. T. Mackenzie, for inslanco, had been included in tho Ministry, without any recantation of his previous views. rOvSumably ho held tho sanio opinions as m the days when his criticism rf the Government was both free and vigorous. Jf the idea that the men opposed lo liie Government \vcre Tory reaelionarivs hod *vny foundation, the Cabinet, contained a Tory reactionary in the person of Mr .Mackenzie. Tie had nol changed his views, but only his seat in the' A very great, deal of humbui was talked about the Tory party and Conservatism. . . ' that no such party existed in New Zealand to-day. The lalest development in connection with the Government was tho resignation of Mr. I'on Ids, w'lioin he esteemed personally as a conrcienhous and honotirahlo sreiitleman. He assumed that Mr. Fowlds had resigned brcaum hr helievfd that t'lio Government had outlived it.< usefulness i i r , \, llA . tl f r om 1,10 ln,(1 Minister himself that he had not had anv perioral diue'rence with any of his Tn resigning, ho had evidently folHhat Ihe party loyalty to preserve the self-respect of its members was wanting ■ > i j"<lp r -"ent, Jilr. Fowlds liad left tho Cabinet beo.ause he believed in 1 ' H:,s n0 l r)n K° r doin-g its dut.v 'One Cryino in the Wilderness."'' He took it that .Mr. Fowlds did not mean to torm a new party, but that ho believed that his own party needed reforming, and that he had gone out, as one crying in the wilderness," hoping that reform would bo brought about Mr Fowlds had said that when a truly demol era ,ic party arose which had definite pr'nCiplM, his services would be available, llie negative of this was that the party at present in power was not a trulv demo*criuic party, and that it, was not prepared to tight for definite principles * . i l car * ) The P arfc - V in power had wholly departed from the self-reliant principles enunciated by the Hon. J. I3allance.

The Budget brought down this year —election year—was full of promises. I here were increases of pay to railway men, railway concessions, and votes. These things had been piled up for election year. Since Parliament was prorogued increases of. pay for tho polico fcrco had Ijocu promised. If the polico were underpaid now they had presumably been underpaid last year and the vear before, but it was only now, in election vear, that the increases were granted. ' The Government would nnt subsist nuich longer by doling out concessions in this way. so as to obtain votes and by sitting on the rail on questions of principle. Scores of peoplo were prepared to vote against th» Government to-day, though tliev had onr« supporled it, because of its lack of definite nrineipK (Applause, and hear, hear!) The Government was bankrupt in regard to the land policy as in other things, three or four of its own supporters had condemned its attitude on this question. This and other things indicated that a change of Government would be in the interests of this country. (Applause.) The fact that the Government was weak, vacillating, and incompetent was shown by the way in which it'had backed down in regard to the Government House agitation at Auckland, and npon the Knyvett case.

Mokau Lands. Another striking example of Government incompetency was the Mokau case. Tho Ministry allowed 50,000 acres of land which they could have bought for .£15,000 to go to a private speculator, who made •£35,000 out of it. (Shame!) The first speculator sold it to another, who made .£IO,OOO out of it. The profits of thr-se speculators would eventually be imposed as a burden on settlers Numerous commissions had been appointed by tho Government at great cost during the past few years, but there was little of practical value to show for the money that had been spent. Another glaring instance of faulty administration was the payment of thousands of pounds to Judges of the Supreme Court who were already in receipt of a liberal salary. (Applause.) Those who supported the Government contended that borrowing must continue Sot reproductive worlis. This to an extent was true, but borrowing could not long continue at the present huge rate. Sooner or later some Government would inevitably have to taper off tho borrowing policy. At one time a million was considered a large loan. Now five millions were cheerfully borrowed in ono loan. Borrowing and taxation mounted together. Country members in the Eouso wero afraid to vote against a loan Bill or to express their real views because if they did they wero told that money was neccssary for works in their districts. What this country wanted was an enlarged system of local government, which would mako tho country districts and their members independent of Government patronage. (Applause.) Until reform on these lines was introduced, it would be impossible to have an independent Parliament.

Tho action of tho Prime Minister in presenting a Dreadnought to Great Britain without consulting Parliament was unconstitutional. If this sort of tiling could be done unchecked, of what use was it to have a Parliament at all? (Applause.) For an unconstitutional act of this kind if for nothing else, he would vote against the Government.

New Government; New ideas,

To the younger generation among his hearers, Mr. Wright pointed out that a change of Government would not involve the descent of any calamities. Tho prosent party had reigned so long that somo people were afraid that its defeat would lead to a crisis, to stagnation, or to the lowering of wages. These fears wero idle. Very often a change of Government inchanges of an exactly opposite kind. New ideas were generated; fresh opportunities of doing good were opened up. Frequently a change of Government meant the introduction of better times. A chango of Government at tho present timo would bo in tho interests of New Zealand as a whole. Ho believed that such a chango was in tho air, and if elected he would cast his vote in the direction of defeating the Government (Applause.) Somo people said: "Better tho devil you know than tho devil you don't know," but if a new Government were tried and found wanting it could easily be cast out in its turn. There were men now in Parliament who wore just as capablo of filling positions in tho Cabinet as those who now occupied them (Applause.) '

ThanKs and Confidence. During his three vears' representation of Wellington South, he had not at any timo opposed progressive legislation. Ho had done, as far as possible, everything that ho had promised to do. If elected again ho would strive to do the same in the sarno way. Ifo would vote against tho Government on a no-confidence motion and would deal with measures on their merits. (Applause.)

Answering questions, Mr. Wright said ho had voted against .an amendment moved by Mr. Wilford when tho "Davey Clause' 1 was being discussed in Parliament, because he believed that certain of the Wellington tramears were an absolute menaco to tho lives of tho conductors. A vote of thanks and confidence in Mr. Wright ns a fit and proper person to represent the electorate was pasttd by acclamation, on tho motion of Mr. E. W, Cozens. Thoro was no counter-demon-stration.