THE POLITICAL SITUATION

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1618, 9 December 1912, Page 4

THE POLITICAL SITUATION

ADDRESS BY ME. W. D. S. MAC- > DONALD. , (Bj Telegraph.—Press Association.) Gisborne, December 6. Mr. W. D. S. Macdonald, member for tho Bay of Plenty, addressed the electors at Motu this evening. 'He said tho Government which now controlled a majority of the House was not placed there by tho people, but by members of Parliament who had betrayed the Liberal party. Tho election of 1911 was one of the bitterest fought in the history of New Zealand, and it was clear that neither side had a working majority when the figures' were totalled up. . In the short session of February the Liberals came out ivith a small majority, but later the dissentients seceded from the party,, and gave the. Massey Government'its present majority. Before the. present Government was in power, it was always going about the country telling the people what, it would do if given the opportunity! ' For instance, all classes were going to benefit by their'land tenure, but their promises were not fulfilled" when the responsibilities of' office were placed on them., One of the. greatest planks of the. Massey Government ' when in opposition was that everyone should get a fair and square deal, but when >they looked at the work of last session, he did not think that in many cases a fair and square deal had been meted out to many officers of the Government Departments. One peculiar thing about the Public Service Bill was that two of the strongest Ministers, Mr. Herries (Native Minister), arid Mr. Herd r man (in charge of the police), refused to have their Departments brought under the operations of the Bill. There were 13,000 employees in the Railway Department, and their attitude in the matter was a thoroughly good indication' that they had no faith in the application of the. Bill. Although the Bill did not come into operation till January, the Government;,, were making' every appointment ithey. possibly could. Although' they said the. Bill Was framed to prevent political pull, there was not the slightest doubt that, trie. Bill gave,; an absolute p.un to the Ministry of r/e day. At the present time there was"gr')'at dissatisfaction regarding the works throughout the country. • If the Government was going to dispense with the co-operative system, it should have gradually' worked the contract' system in. If the present Government wasafraid to raise, money in this country when there was a revenue of over eleven millions, the settlers would have to wait a long time for relief. The, late Government w as carrying on a, vigorous policy of public works, and in many cases there must be great disappointment with tho present Government in this respect. They had the present Government wailing that they had riot got money and yet year in and year out when in opposition' they condemned the Liberal party for not carrying out more railways. The Government had stopped work an the Napier end of the Gisborne line, and it was very nearly stopped at the Gisborne end, but before the session closed the Minister brought down a Railways Authorisation Bill authorising seven new railways, which would probably cost a million. There was rib money voted, but authorities . were placed on the Statute Book. Mr. Macdonald did -not refer to the vexed question of the leadership of the' Liberals or their prospects, and at the conclusion' of tho address w*as accorded a simple vote of thanks.