REFORMS to come.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1778, 17 June 1913, Page 6

REFORMS to come.

ADDRESS BY DR. NEWMAN. M,P.

WELLINGTON'S FUTURE.

FAT YEARS FOR NEW ZEALAND.

Dr. A. K. Nowmnn, M.P. for Wellington East, delivered a pre-sessional address to about 100 electors in .the New Century Hall, Kent Terrace, last evening:. Mr, A. Leigh Hunt presided.

The ohoirman said Dr.- Newman had been very attentive to his duties during last session. Ho had macto a strong point in his campaign of the need for opening up of tho East Coast lands, and now, as a resuLt of his advocacy, Ministers and the publio had had their attention turnod to this very important question.

The Great Change. Dr. Newman said he realised from his experience of politics that peoplo had very little interest in addresses, but this time things were rather different. A now Government was in power which was pledged to reforms, and if the Keform party did'not "make Us marble good" it would go down. If it did not live up to its name, it would go out. But tho party was a useful party, it would do good work for the country, and would go to the electors next year with a good record. (Applause.) There wa9 no doubt that' many things in this country needed change, and the Keform party could not well do worse than tho old party had done. In the days of the old Government, which had been in power for so long, boys had nwn to manhood without knowing any other Government. Thoy had come to believe that there could not be good government .by any other party, but now a now party had been in power for a. year, and the sun was still shining and things were going on all right. (Laughtor.) No man and no party was ever indispensable. In Mr. Allen they had a very good Minister for Finance. He had just como back from London after raising a loan at Al 5s Bd. per cent., which was cheaper than the rates obtained by other Treasurers for somie years. Since then ho had raised 'smaller loans at even cheaper rates. Ihcy would now havo money sufficient to carry on a reasonable public works policy. There would be 110 wild cat schemes and -wasted money, but thero would be money to do sensible things. Foolish things had been done in tho past, and instanced tho Parliament Buildings muddle, which would cost something liko £MO-, 000 before it was done . with, while the burned down wing of Parliament Buildings could have been rebuilt for .£40,000. So it had been proved that a new financier had been found, and if Mr: Allen wore to go to heaven, ho believed they would still- find a treasurer fit to take care of tho country s duty of Parliament when the House mat would be to elect a Speaker. Sir Arthur Guinness had been a very proper Speaker, conduohng the House with fairness and decorum. As to his successor, he did not claim to know anything, but he thought he could pick it in one"—tho ntime of the new Speaker would be Mr. Lang. And he believed Mr. Lang would be a very good Speaker if he were elected.

Reforms Comlnfl. Tho first work the Government would undertake this session would be the reform of the Legislative Council, by abolishing tho nominative principle, ana electing members by proportional representation on a popular franchise, iio thought tho two Islands should be divided into two electorates each, and, ot oourse, the North Island would havo more members, because of its greater population. The nominative system had been proved to be utterly bad, not only in New Zealand, but in every country it had been tried, and tho elective Upper House would- bo infinitely better than tho present one. Ho had no fear that there would be frequent deadlocks between-tHo two elective Houses, and,. in- any caso, they would be provided for. Personally, ho was one of those who believed that it would bo well to have only one House, but he also believed that a Second Chamber could do very good and uscf^,.^ r 5;. The Government would also abolish tho i second ballot, which had .proved to-be. a clumsy device for ensuring. that members should not bo elected by minorities/, as had frequently been the case under the old system. Tor the second ballot the Government would substitute proportional representation, which would 6ecure to all parties fair and propcr reprcscntation, even if they were minorities. The nd- : vantages of this system of "Plantation were very many and very great; it had been tried in many countries, and in none.ot those countries in which it had been tried had it ever proved; to* be unsatisfactory. One of the advantages of-the system was that it gavo a better chance to independent candidates. The new would be cheaper than the second ballot, and very much better in every way. He was sure that the new elective Upper Houso and the new method- of election would bo found perfectly satisfactory by tho peoplo of New Zealand. Local Affairs. Since ho had been in Parliament he had been able to do a few things for the people of Wellington East. He had, for nstonoe, been ablo to persuade Mr Bell •d buy a sito for a post offioo at Hataitai and) he had also been active cotcorning the To Aro Railway Station. The matter was not quite settled yet, but; he was oonfident that it would bo settled quite satisfactorily to the people of tho Te Aro end. There would be a goods elied in Te Aro, and the products of the oountry would bo brought down to that end of tho town. (Applause.) It would also not be very long before there would ba some workmen's cottages erected by the Government in Wellington East. Tho functions of Government had been much extended beyond thoso of the oldfeshioned days when the duty of a Government was supposed to be no more than a policoman's duty. Government had to do now with humanitarian questions and he believed it was right that the Government eliould concern itself with helping the broken and wretched people, i here would always be poverty and the Government must help the poor. The Reform party would improve and extend tho old pensions scheme. He hoped that presently they would give pensions not only to tho old, but to invalids and peoplo who were crippled and unable to work. It seemed all wrong that there should bo so much misery and destitution in a rich young country like ours, and ho hoped that they might yet be able to devise somo means of keeping people from being miserable and poor. Develop the Back Country. He spoke of tho need for opening up the back country right through the Dominion, and ho deplored Wellington s apathy in assisting the settlers in the baok country of "Wellington province in their effort to get their district opened up. Thero was land on' tho East Coast which was splendid country if it were developed, bnt tho peoplo of Wellington did not care about if He had always been preaching about tho opening of tho back country, and he would go on preaching it till he dropped. (Applause.) The development of somo of tho areas now held in huge estates would bring more trado to Wellington, and ; with"moro trado would come moro people, moro houses, and moro prosperity. fApi plause ) Ho could see better tmio ahead for Wellington. In faot, ho believtd Wellington had filled up since the census v-ae I taken; there were few empty houses now, ■ and probably about 3000 people had come ■ hero quietly. , There was no need for > despondency about th© tuture or IYcII province. It was his belief that i Wellington would produce other things . besides good butter and good lamb. There was every probability of large oilfialds hein" found in Wairarapa, Manawatu. , and °Rangitikei. This was pooh-poohed bv some pessimistic Weillngtonians, but ! without any doubt whatever there was a very B rca ' probability of oil being ! found in these districts. Thero was also a probability of coal being found in pny- . ablo quantities in some localities. The r coal was there—ho had seen it—but it had ; never been exploited. The prospects of ) New Zealand es a wholo were exceeding--1 ly bright. The world was getting more i populous, and tho markets were hungry fc for our products. No new lands were f opening up to supply the extra demand. . It appeared, thmfow, that all! our pro.

of prices, and ho expected to boo our exports mount up higher year after year. There were surely fat years ahead. Tho Reform party was not the party of obstruction as it had been declared to bo at last election, but a party of progress. They wero treating people fairly, giving everybody a fair hearing, and a equaro deal. (A voice: Question!) He knew tho party wero not perfect, but they wero trying to do their best, anxl after another session the peoplo would find that tho Reform party had advanced tho causo of good government in Now Zealand. (Applause.) Questions. In reply to Mr. E. J. Carey, Dr. Newman said ho thought it would bo impossible to get tho House to agree to proportional representation in tho countrv el«itorates. Country members objected to it, saying that tho electorate were largo enough already. It would be tried in tho cities first, and later, as it had in Tasmania, ho liopod it would spread into the country.Dr. Newman replied to several other questions put by Mr. Carey. He said he could see no objection to tho polioo or any other body of Civil Servants organising for tho purpose of bettering their labour conditions. Ho stated also that as ho' had voted last session ho would vote again to give fair treatment to hotel workers. Mr. Carey aslced whether he would leave the party in tho event of the party not doing tho right thing by the hotel workors. Dr. Newman: I have never been, what Is known as a strong party man. I voted against them last year, and I would do bo again. (Applause.) A vote of thanks and confidence was carried without dissent, and with applause.