HON. J. A. MILLAR AT DUNEDIN.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1287, 16 November 1911, Page 7

HON. J. A. MILLAR AT DUNEDIN.

HOSTILE OUTBURSTS.

DEFENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT,

RAILWAY HATTERS.

(By TclcKranli.-Prcss Association.)

Duncdin, November 15. The Garrison Hall was packed to the doors this evening, when tho Hon. J, A, Millar addressed a meeting of (he electors of Duncdin W«t. The ex-Mayor (Mr. J. Cole), in tho unavoidable absence of tho Mayor, occupied the chair, and briefly introduced tho speaker, who was suffering from a severe cold, and had been in bod all the morning. Jfr. Millar, who was received with loud and continuous applause, said that, as a member of tho Ministry, he had to bear his share of the sins cf omission and commission of tho Government. So tar as the actions of the Govtrnmtut were concerned, he maintained that they w«irc m the interests of the country. (A , v ;,°ice: "What about the Dreadnought?") ihe Government had done nothing that its members had to bo ashamed of. (A voice: "You ought to be.") The Government had been charged with unduly swelling the general expenditure, but tiie Opposition had brought forward no specific instance. It was very easy for them to say tho Government was extravagant, but not so easy to say where that extravagance lay. Opposition members were going round the country telling the peoplo about the enormous increase in expenditure without offering anything in its place. The permanent appropriations were last year increased by ,£223,743. There was an increase of £%M, which would have to be paid by whatever Government was in power. Subsidies to local holies had increased by i;I3,U(KJ, old age pensions by £23,000, education by iG5,000, and there had been considerable increase in the cost of the Post and Telegraph Department, and also in railway appropriations. In these items alone .£.'120,0(10 out of tho ,£352,000 of increase was provided for, and he asked, Would the Opposition reduce tho subsidies to local bodies? Would they reduce old age pulsions? Would they allow the railways which had beon finished to be idle? Would thev cut down tho Education vote or deny country settlers the rights of telegraph and telephone communication? They had been borrowing pretty freely, but'that money was being used in the development of the ; country. What (hey were doing with I public money in the' Dominion was being dono in other countries by private capital. All their public buildings were being built with public moneys, and roads and bridges, etc. If they wanted the country developed and maintained, and the .railways developed, they could only do it with borrowed money. (A voice: "No.") He asked them to show him how they were going to develop (lie country without borrowing. He himself did not know. (A voice: "13y a national credit noto.") Tho candidate replied that he would like to know how a national credit note would do in tin markets of the world. (Hear, henr.l Interest Charges, The Departments of the country, although increasing largely, hud not caused any hardship in interest charges to the people. Prior to IR9I, when tho Liberal party took office, the amount paid- on tho non-interest-bcaring debt by the peoplo per head nf population was .£1 Bs., but since that time tho interest charges per head of population had only amounted to 18s. 7Jd. (Applause.) They did not say, however, that the Government was entitled to all credit for that. Three factors influenced it. First, increase of population; second, a lower rate paid for money than was formerly paid; and, thirdly, that almost -CSG of every .4100 borrowed was being used for reproductive works, and wa.s paying interest to-day. (Applause.) Would-anyone say that their country was not being devcloiied and opened' up rapidly? In 25 years they, had laid down 311 miles of new railways, opened up land, and erected bridges, and made roads. (Applause.) Theirs was the first Government who had made a start to pay off its loans. (Laughter, and "What are you giving Dreadnoughts away for?") They had sinking funds at the present timo of over a million and a half, and were adding to it at the rat* of ,£150,000 per annum, and this fund would go on increasing until at the end of seventy-five -years tho accumulated funds would bo sufficient to pay oft the loans. Taxation. At tho present timo they had in New Zealand 150,000 freeholders, and tho number of persons who paid land tax wns 25,798. Of this number 4050 paid loss than JCI, 9166 between XI and £\ 55., 3730 between £5 and .£lO, 3820 between dCIO and £20, 1350 between ,£2O and .£3O, 1155 between ,£'3o and XSO, -152 between £'(l and .£IOO, 510 between .£IOO and .£250, 143 between .£250 and .£SOO, M 7 between ,£SOO and over. Tho graduated income tax amounted to ,£407,000 paid by 11,303 persons and companies. Of this amount G4OB persons and companies paid under £500, a-id 4895 persons and companies over £ r M. Tho number of estates contributing to the death duties from January 1, 1910, to October 31, 1911, were 4595, and tlio total amount of revenue from this source was JCG05.724. Summarised, this meant that 27,871 paid .£1,041,457, or out of a Mai of .«,757,3 C 0 they paid nearly one-third, while 14.122 people paid ;c : s (ban .£1 ss. each. Referring to Customs duty, he said last year this amounted to .£3,727,829, or, in rough figures, about ,£3 per head of population. Included in tins sum wcro duties on luxuries, defence of Empire, free education, and old age pensions. Mr. Millar quoted a table showing the articles Hut had been made duty free by tho Customs tariff Acts of 1900 and 1907.

The £5,000,000 Loan. There had been, he said, a great deal of talk about the flotation of the .£5,000,000 loan. It was not one year's borrowing at all, two years' borrowing being put in in accordance with the suggestion of their financial advisers. To wiy it was a failure was nonsense. Tho opponents of tho Gove-rnmoat had again and again seated that the Government refused to give details, ami that the loan was a iailuic. The Minister for Finance had twice during last session given the latest and fullest information that he had about the lean, reading the High Commissioner's cablegrams to the Houso. Nothing had been kept back relating to the cost or other details. Tho information supplied showed that it netted «COG Os. Id. per .£IOO, ami that it certainly was not a failure. (Applause.) In order to show that tho Opposition was quite wrong in saying it was a failure, tho results of two other loans ought to b& compared with it:— (1) The New Zealand loan, 3£ per cent., .£'5,000,000. 1010; price of issue. .£9B 105.,not result, ,£SG os. Id. (2) Queensland loan, .'!'. ner cent., ,£2,000,000 (1910); price of issue, .£97 10s., net result. X9l- 10s. Od. (.1) Port of London loan, 3J per cent., Jt'2,000,000 (1911); price of issue, .£9l 10s.; quoted at discount of 10 per cent., at 3! per cent. The interest payable, on cadi of the net proceeds would be, in'tlie case of Queensland, .£3 13s. 8!d„ New Zealand £3 12s. BJd. At JC9O 10s. the Port oi London would have to pay' £3 17s. t!d. But commission, cost of underwriting, and other charges would have to bo deducted from X9O 10s. to get the net proceeds—this would make the interest still higher. The Opposition, although challenged again and again to do so, could not quote any loan floated in 1010 or 1911 on better terms than the Now Zealand five million loan. (Applause.) Mr. W. Fraser, M.P., had thus spoken on the Government's loans: "There had been much criticism lately regarding the manner in which loans wore raised. He had not snoken publicly on this matter duriiig tho year, and he had not raised his voico' in condemnation of Die amount realised as tho 7cu!t of the flotation of the five million loan. He thought that, considering the circumstances of the time, which wero somewhat adverse to any country raising money, the prico paid for tho loan was not excessive at all. That at any rate was his opinion." That was the opinion of, one of the leading financial critics of New Zealand, but he was honourable enough and straightforward enough to give (ho Government its duo. (Loud applause.)

The Railways. Thcro had been some severe criticism in regard to the management of tbo railways. (Uproar, during which tlio speaker -had to stop.) The railways did not pay their way, Tto deficiency had. to he inwle

up out of the consolidated funds. li<> boliovod (lint llio railways should be made to piiy their own way, and that those who did not use them should not be asked to jiay tor thorn. Jlo luui been accused o)' bribing railway men by raisins tlicir wages at (he present time. Two years ago, however, at tho time of the financial depression which passed over New Zealand, ho had promised the men, if thev would slick (o him, as booh as ho got'the railways in a belter financial position ho would repay them, and ho had done it. (Applause and uproar.) Ho had been told now that sonio of the increases wcro unreasonable in (hat tho wages had been raised 2Jd. per day; but under the Act married men received .£l3O per annum, which was equal (o Bs. Iljd. per day, and no had added an extra 2}d„ and brought n up to Bs. Cd. Ho had been accused of saying that their wages were to lie 9s. per day. Jlo had never said that. Ho had said casual labourers employed in tho goods sheds .should receive Is. Id, per hour, which worked out at 9s. per day. Uo thought casual men should receive moro consideration than those who wcro constantly employed. (Applause.)

Great Uproar. Tho chairman hero rose and demanded order, tho meeting being held up for a lew minutes, the spcakor being inaudible. Great uproar started at the back of the hall, and tho candidate had to slop again. A man mado his way to the stage and shook nanda with the Minister. Ho was gently requested to leavo tho stage again by tho chairman, and walked back to his seat with an air of conscious pride. Up. roar at tho back or the hall further delayed the meeting. The speaker then read a letter from tho secretary of a body which ho said represented 15(10 men employed on the railways. Die letter stated that though tho Locomolive Kiigine-drivers', Firemen's, and Cleaners Association had not gained much from Mr, Millar as Minister lor Uailways—all that they considoreil as their just duos-thcy recognised that many of their claims had his sympathy, and probably others which had not been seen in the same light, yet they would bo lacking in manhood if tliey wcro not to thank him for what ho had done for tho union, though they had disapproved of his actions when occasion had called for it. They bcliovcd that ho had endeavoured to promote the iliterosta of theii workmates in u maimer as clean and honourable as possible. They had always found him as Minister jnst and honourable to them as representatives of the locomotive men. What about tho other sociuty? The Amalgamated Society the other day at Palmerston North passed a resolution condemning him up hill and down dale. The following Sunday that resolution was rescinded bv tho Palmerston branch of tho A.SJt.S., only uine men voting against the rescinding.

Labour Legislation. The candidate reviewed tho Labour Dills which had boon brought before tho' House, and fur which he said he had beon largely responsible. Ho also referred to thb Workmen's IJomea Hill, which ho characterised as one of tho most Liberal things over given to the working men. Tho Advances to Workers Act was also a beneficent Act, and it wns claimed by Mr. Massey that he was responsible for that Act. A woman: It is true. Mr. Massey said in 190G he introduced the Act, but he (Mr. Millar) said Mr. Massoy did not introduce tho Bill. (Applause.) Mr. Seddon was the man who introduced the advances to workers and not Mr. Massey. They had endeavoured to prevent as far as possible accidents arising from working in quarries, and also introduced tho Scaffolding Inspection. Act. They had also introduced the Factories Act and an amendment in tho Coal Mines Act. They had prohibited the use of white phosphorus in tho making of matches. In the Shipping and Seamen's Bill they had amended tho law so as to prevent Asiatics being employed and honed soon to hoar that the Bill had received ihe Roynl assent, and their own men bo looked after. The speaker then enumerated a number of Bills which had been introduced in tho interests of thf worker. The Arbitration Court. Referring to the Conciliation Council he said 80 per cent of industrial disputes had been settled without coming beforo tho Court at all. As ho had stated from tho floor of the House, however, if ho was re-elected ho intended next year to have- a comploto alteration in the constitution of the Court. He was working at the matter nt tho timo, and hoped by next Parliament to ovolvo a system of arbitration which would give greater satisfaction. '

A voice: Yon won't go back. Tho speaker: I am not particular. Plenty of Rood tuon have had to bear an adverse voto at the elections. A woman: It won't bo a bettor man that will beat you (Loud applause.) Hie speaker traversed (he clauses of tho National Provident Fund, and Widows' Tensions Act. As regards tho latter it was not much, perhaps, but it was a commencement, and they hoped to do better later on. Ho hoped by this measure (o lighten tho burden of the widows of ''.'is country, (Applause.) Ho asserted Jiat the present Government were pioneers in this Liberal legislation. (Applause.) As regards (he eo6fc of living tho Government intended to appoint a commission to give thorn tho fullest advice and information in this important subject with the object of trying to. obtain relief. It was not a mere question of increase of wages, as this increase was added to tltf cost of production, and thus nassed on, and they were no nearer a solution. (Applause!) The desire of tho Government was to deal with this subject, and if possible to find a solution of the increase of cost. Ho hoped to bo able to bring down something at next session to provide for insurance against unemployment. They intended to maintain tho land poJicy Act of 1008, and Itecp 0,000,000 acres of land now available for national endowments. H<? explained- the Land Settlement Finane* Act, and tho Family Homes Bill. lit spoke for himself as regards the licensing question, and was in favour of tho threefifths majority. In conclusion, tho speaker spoke of the work ho had done in getting through local Bills, and referred to the irrigation of Central Otago. which lie was highly in favour of. He had been in Dunedin since the year 1670, and intended to spend (he rest of his lifo here. He had brcn told he was never in Dunedin, but they must remember if they wanted a Minister who came from Dunedin, tli-rv must be prepared to sco very little of him. He had conscientiously and honestly tried to do his best while ho had ropivwuUd them. (Loud and continuous applause.) After answering a number of questions, a voto of thanks and confidence, in Mr. Millar was passed, amidst clieors and counter cheers.