REFORM LEADER'S SPEECH.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1369, 21 February 1912, Page 6

REFORM LEADER'S SPEECH.

THE BEGINNING OF THE FIGHT. VERDICT OF Tin-: PEOPLE. Tho LliAUKfi Or THK OPPOSITIOX (Mr. "W. I'. oppiifd his .cpproli with n recapihiUili'in of I he noieiKliupnf-. which In? $.v&ez& to movp, that a para-

in excess of the country's requirements, and it also demanded that all borrowed money should bo properly expended. The Governor's Speech was the first occasion on which cottage farms had been proposed by the Government, but during the eighteen years ho had been in Parliament he had done his best to secure cottage farms for the people whom Mr, Reed represented, tho gum-diggers, but that member had nover given him a helping hand in his effort to introduce the system which he now commended. When the Reform party entered into power one of the first things it would do would be to attach the gum-diggers to the soil.

Taxation and the People. Reference had been made by the member for Wallace to some remarks made by him at Winton, when he declared that no taxation could be confined to one section of tho community. Mr. Thomson had suggested the income tax as an exception, but if Mr. Thomson were a merchant required to pay an additional income rax, he would make a simple readjustment of his business and pass the extra burden back to the rank and file. Voices: What about competition?

Competition would not prevent that result. When the railway charges were increased the taxation of the whole community was increased. One of the previous 'speakers denied that the taxation had been increased, but immediately afterwards said that ,£130,000 had been borrowed for defence purposes, but of that amount iioo,ooo was spent on defence and the balance expended in other ways, increasing the taxation.

The Iron Industry. Mr. Thomson asked the members on the cross benches to judge the Government on what it was at present and not on its past. (Voices: Ho, ho!) That was the impression conveyed. A voice: You are backing down. .Air. Massey: Well, I do not belong to the backing down party. Resuming, Mr.'Massey said that though so complimentary with regard to the policy of the Government which he so strenuously supported, Mr. Thomson had not a goo'd word for the second ballot, which he always understood was part of tho policv of the Government. The Prime Minister: You voted for it Inst session.

Mr. Massey: I did not. The Prime Minister: You voted against its repeal last session. Mr. Masscy: 1 did not. I would refer you to Hansard. Continuing, Mr. Masscy said Mr. Thomson had said a great deal about the iron industry, and oxpressed the- opinion that the iron deposits were rich enough' to liquidate the national debt. But Mr. Thomson supported the Government which proposed last session to make a present of those valuable deposits to a syndicate whoso personnel was not disc'ksed. A Political Derelict. Speaking of his amendment, Mr. Masscy said thtt attempts had been made that aftwn->in tu show that the Government had not lost the confidence of the

of the Dreadnought, but the principle involved was the same, tn actual fact tho Executive was there to give effect to the wishes of Parliament, but some of them seemed to have got hold of the ide-i that Parliament was there simply and. solely to give efiect to the wishes of the Executive. As a matter of fact, the gentlemen of the Executive, their supporters in the House, and,' he was sorry to say, tome ot tbeit supporters in the country, hal forgotten the fundamental principles of democracy. They had been reminded on December 7 and December 14 that tho fundamental principles of democracy ban not been forgotten by the peon're. If there was one point upon which the people of the country had been emphatic and decided, it. was in protesting against the custom of tho Government in holding back information relating to financial transactions from the representatives of the people. The right of tho people and their representatives to this information had been asserted in December, and ho was quite sure that the people were ready to assert it again.

The Prime Minister: Hear, hoar. Mr. Massey said tbat ho did not know what the lion, gentleman meant bv "Hear, hear," but that hn was himself of opinion that a solution of the existing difficulty would be found in another appeal to tho people. The Prime Minister: Ton can't do it. Mr. Mas-ey said that the lion, gentleman was looking at the matter in one way, and he was looking at it in another. He did not want to force an election, but Hio time might when a general election would bn necessary, and he knew well what the result would be. (Hear, heaj\) A Condemned Administration. Mr. Massey, continuing, said that ho was quite willing to admit that it was the administration of the Government that had broil found fault with rather than their legislation. Parliament was responsible for the legislation. They teemed to think that they had become a law unto themselves so far as expenditure was concerned, and, he was sorry to say, so far ns extravagance was concerned. He had not the slightest doubt that a majority of the members of this House would record their votes in the direction of showing that they had. no confidence in the Government. In laying some financial papers on the table that afternoon the hon. gentleman (the Prime Minister), ns he had often done before, had patted himself on the back, or on the chest, as the case might be, because there v;as likely to be a snbstantial surplus at March 31. Who was responsible for that? What had tho Prime Minister had to do with jt? What he had to do with it was lo extract it from the pockets of the people who earned it. The greatest financial authorities in England at the present time held that it was bad finance to extract more from the pockets of (he people than was required to carry on tho government of the country. The hon. gentleman seemed to have forgotten that, there were such things as economic laws, and that the founirv would suffer if they vore broken. Had they been allowed to (fo

Native Lands. In spite of all the strings of figures which were periodically submitted to Parliament and to the public, and which were intended to prove that a successful settlement of Native lands was going on, anyone acquainted with the inland districts knew perfectly well that the fringe of the question had hardly been touched. Sir Jas. Carroll: Schedule the lands. Mr. Massey said that the hon. gentleman had had a bctler opportunity of doing that than ho had. The subject had been discussed during the previous session, and ho was quito willing to do it again, but he had not the figures there that night. The Native lands must be occupied, and the Native people must become producers. In the first place, they must give tho Native the impression that he was a citizen of the country in exactly the same way as his European felloivsubject. It should M impressed upon him that while ho was possessed of certain rights and privileges, he should be willing to shoulder certain responsibilities. Physically and intellectually t&» Native was the equal of tho European. Proof of it might be fonnd in tho Native members who represented their race in the House of Representatives. It might. bo that they did not possess all tho qualities which had made the Anglo-Saxon race the dominant nee in the world to-day. Wo would never do justico to the Maoris so long as we treated them as children. \Vo would never do justico to them until we treated them as men and citizens. There wore members of tho Native race who wore willing to take advantage of tho woa.knesscs of their own people, of tho weaknesses of tho law, and the grievances of Europeans. These were tho people who were profiting by tho present system. The system that had been in operation ever since Sir James Carroll had been in charge was ono that had worked out. detrimentally to the members of the Nativo race. The members of the Native race who were the best morally and physically wore those who through ono cause or another had to endeavour to cam their own living. (Hear, hear.) As Bishop .Selwyn had truly said, the only way to help Iho Maori was to treat them as the law treated the European people of this country. There were, lie knew, difficulties in the way. The settlers were very anxious to sec ihc Nativo lands settled, but 09 out of every 100 would be anxious to have these lands settled, and would not attempt anything that would in the slightest way do an injustice to the Native race. (Hear, hear.) The result up to tho present time had been more than disappointing. The question was ono that should bo tackled firmly and fairly. Tho Mokau Land Deal. A sample of the administration of the Government was to he seen in the now famous Mokau laud deal. The Government had allowed *>0,000 acres of freehold (o bo sold to a speculator at a little over )os. an acre. That fact, aione showed where the sympathies of (lie present. Government were. The sympathies of the Uovenrusnl were with the land specu!ator~(lißar, hear)—and wainst the doda

fide settlers, because the settlers who went on, those lands in hituro would have their burdens very considerably increased owing to this.land deal. That transaction alone was sufficient to' wreck any Government. He was sure that but for the exposure of that transaction by the' Opposition other similar transactions would have taken place. The London "Truth" newspaper had rightly slated that the Mokau land transaction had been developed in New Zealand into a grave legislative scandal.' It had been an eveopener to. the people, but there was still something to lie cleared up vet. lie wanted to knew how the Crown lands area had passed into the hands of the speculator at something like lis. an acre.

The Public Service. He spoko strongly in condemnation of the way our Public Service had been run tor years. In other countries something had been done to remedv oxistinsr evils, but nothing had be M , . done in i\ew Zealand, and so far as we were concerned, tho present system was neither fair nor honest. Tho Government had been nearly ai years in office with a argo majority behind them, vet thev had never relormcd the svstem of mailing appointments. On the contrary, they had gone from bad to wcrse. They went along in the same old groove, in the. same old method, and tho Public Scrv'ce system was worso now. than it was ten years ago. Here was an opportunity for <<f 1 ii* 1 ' 0 ™ party; (Government cries of

Mr. Massey: "Reform cannot coma from the party opposite. They aro past redemption or reform, but they would be reformed out of- existence . presently. In the Civil Service n man who had his own political opinions should have just as good a chance of an appointment as a.man who boasted the influence, of half a dozen Ministers or members. Tho Government who ■ had' been so long on those benches would, however, never attempt to do that.. Tho Reform partv would do it, and if they had done that they would have done something to justify their existence." Referring to Iwa] bodies' loans; lie pointed out that the interest on the loans to local bodies had recently been raised by the Government. They used to be able to get money at 31 per cent, for 40 years, <tnd to wipe olf the principal and' interest. In 1909, however, the Minister - for Finance had induced Parliament to repeal this law, and' substituted one 'by which the local' bodies had to pay 8J per cent, and J>A Bs. sinking fund, or J!4'lßs. for the,'.term. The inducement was that'they would get larger sums, and now the rate" had been increased'one quarter per cent., and tho total payment was £j 3s. per cent;, While preference was given to those local Wlies who had not Ixirrowcd more than .25000. This was done by the people who professed that their hearts bled for the poor settlers' in the. baekblceks. In nearly every such district,, however, . the Government candidate at the general election had been turned down, because the settlers' had come to tho conclusion that the Government policy was pure and undiluted bunkum.

The Railway Department. He instanced another Department in which there was great dissatisfaction, namely, the Railway Department. Mr. Millar: I won't buy their support. (Opposition cries of "Oh! ) Mr. Massey: The hori. gentleman had better not talk about buying support. In answer to an intericctor Mr. Massey said it was one thing to buy' support arid another' thing to remedy an injustice. There was great dissatisfaction in connection, with the railway system and ho believed the real reason was the abominable system of' differential rates'in connection w'ith the carriage of goods.- They would never put the matter right.until they found arrian of experience to deal with railway organisation and management. A great deal - might be-done, to make the railways more useful to people in the suburbs of the cities. As a traveller on suburban lines himself, he could say that no man was more unpopular wjth the users of the trains than the Minister for Railways—and that was saying a good deal. He had no fault to find with the railway staffs. Tie supposed they wero as good in New Zealand as in any other country—(Ministerial laughter) —but the railway system needed to be reorganised, reirivigorated, 'arid brought up to date, but the men on the Government benches would never do it, even if they had the chance. They had had 20 years to do it and had not dono it.

The Growth of Taxation. Speaking of finance, this was not the place to quote figures, because, like soldiers, figures could be made to face in any direction. (Ministerial laughter.) They had had an instance of that during tho afternoon. The Government had been borrowing and squandering and borrowing again, until the permanent settlers of the country were wondering what would be the end of it all." The Government's recklessness and- lightheadedness had made sober-minded people staiid aghast. It was not .always possible for the borrowed money to be .spent so as to bring in the rat* of interest that had to be paid on it, but the Government had not endeavoured to spend the money to the best advantage, and the deficiency in the interest bad had to bo made up by increased taxation, which was one of the causes of tho riso in the cost of living. And because tho cost of living had gone up .there was unrest and dissatisfaction in every class throughout tho country except those who had large internes.

Mr. Russell: What portion of tho taxation do you object to? . Mr. Massey: I ha?o just been trying to make the hon. gentleman understand that you cannot put extra .taxation on any portion of the community without the whole of tho community fdeling it... Ministerialists: "Oh, oh! Whajt • would you do?" ■" •Mr. Massey: When the timo'comos to put forward a policy wo shall be able to do so, and it will meet with the approval of the large majority'of the people. Tho present difficulties had taken years to bring about, and it- would probably take years to remedy them. (Ministerial Oh* ohs.) ■ Hon. T. Mackenzie: Taihoa! Mr. Massey: I am not-going to deal with the experimental farms just now, although some of them are the. laughingstock of men who know. \ Mr. Mackenzie :_ Are you tho man who knows? > Tho Speaker:.l must ask hon. membcin not _ to continue these petulant interjections. A British Opinion. Mr. Massey said the criticisms of some of the British nowsnapers on the New Zealand elections had been written without due knowledge of the subject, bur. thero was one in tho "Yorkshire Post" which was very good. It referred to the defeat of the Government, and mentioned, among the causes, tho system of State doles and subsidies and tho growing tendency to corruption in the public service. During the election, the Government (Mr. Massey continued) had quite failed to defend its huge system of Parliamentary doles and subsidies, which wore used for. electioneering purposes, which could not possibly be defended. It would not be tolerated in any other country in tho British Empire. Tho British Government in its new development system had taken care to mako it impossible. This bad system in New Zealand should have been dono away with long ago. It was ono of tho most objectionable features of the present Administration. The Government had not dono enough to .encourage enterprise on tho part of the pcoplo of the country. If it had, there would not bo so much unoccupied Crown and Native land. Thero had not been sufficient development of water power. Hon. R. M'Kenzio: You opposed it. Mr. Massey: No. I wanted the local bodies to bo able to utilise water powers for generating electricity, and (hat is the ■ difference between the hon, gentleman and me. I still think that every local body should be allowed to do so. I am as strongly against monopoly as any man, and where a monopolv exists, I think it is Hie duty of the State to come in and stop it. I don't car© what the monopoly is, and 1 could mention ono or two monopolies that the present Government is. very friendly to at the present moment. If the country wus to prosper, they must do everything thev could to allay the present unrest, which was not industrial only, and to restore the confidence whicii was unfortunately missing. By Way of Summary, During the elections the Premier hail said that ho must not Ih> held responsible for the sins of his predecessors—when, bv the way, the present Minister for Acricul". ture was in opposition to him—(laughter.)—but only lor the period of the presont Government. He (Mr. Massev) agreed with that, and he would remind

tho mover and seconder of the Address that one of the first, actions of tho Government which they now so enthusiastically supported was to bring in a Bill which, if, passed, would havo made the freehold impossible to tho settlors of this country. In conclusion, tho Government was against scenrity of. tenure for tho settlers. They had increased taxation and cost of government, loading to increased,cost of living. They had cent large areas of laud locked up that should, have been thrown open to settlement. They had ignored the great constitutional principle that Parliament should hav« control of public expenditure., and they had ignored another great constitutional principle in giving extra payments-to'at least ono Supreme -Court Judge above his salary. This had te-en ono of- their most serious faults. They hud placed /Aeii pnitv interests Ijeforc tho public interests where: the two, clashed; They had wasted public money in the unsatisfactory control of the Public Service. In regard to local' government, they had for 18 years broken'their promise to introduce.a new system. They had often used public money for party purposes. They had 'maintained an - undemocratic system of' noniina,tihg the Legislative Council, ' Mr. Lauronson ' rotse .to a. point of ordor. ' The lion, member' was. reading Hia speech,' ' •'..' Mr. Masse? said ho was merely referring- to his notes. The Speaker did not'uphold tho objection.

Mr. MASSEY, proceeding, said the Nativo land administration was most unsatisfactory, both to Natives and Europeans. The Government had also increased the rate of intorost to local bodies 1 on tho loans they required for developmental work. 1 He was sure that.a majority.of the House were already convinced of tho sins of tho Government, and was quite prepared to vole against itMr. Massey was stopped" by the timo limit. Ho ended by moving to add tho following paragraph to the Addvess-ra-Iteply:— '

"In conclusion, we deem it our duty to represent to your Excellency, that your Excellency's Advisers do not possess the confidence of this House." Mr. Massey sat -down amidst great applause. •Mr. R. H. RHODES (Ellesmero) secondcd the amendment. .