HON. F. M. B. FISHER

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2179, 18 June 1914, Page 6

HON. F. M. B. FISHER

ADDRESS AT THAMES VERY CORDIAL RECEPTION (By Telegraph.—Special Correspondent.) Thames, Juno 17. 'i'ho Hon. F. M. B. Fisher, Minister of Customs and Marino, delivered a political address at Thames last evening to an audionco of about 1000 people. His Worship tho Mayor (Mr. 11. Lowe), one of tho candidates who is to stand in tho Liberal interest at tho next general election, occupied tho chair. .Tho Minister was accorded a very enthusiastic reception on rising to speak, and tho ■ samo enthusiasm prevailed throughout his speech, with tho exception of a few , interjections from members of tho Social Democratic Party, -but the Minister's replies evoked much lapplauso at the expense of the inter-. Sectors.Tho Mayor, in introducing the Min'isteiy said; that iti gave him very much pleasuro to wclcomo Mr. Fisher to tho Thames':on his' first, official visit. (Ap- P plause.) Continuing, tho> Mayor said that, although it was Mr. Fisher's first yisifr. ho would no doubt bo well known 'to many of tho audience by political repute, by tho ablo manner in which ho had administered the Departments under his .control, and by tho active part which, he bad taken in the administration of tho affairs of-the Dominion generally. (Loud applause.) _ Mr. Fisher had been practically born in an atmosphere of politics.' His father was •.well known as ii New Zealand statesman, and lie had 'visited the Thames 25 or 30 .years ago, holding exactly tho same portfolios as were now held by iliis son. (Applause.) Continuing, tho Mayor said that tho Thames had been very fortnnato in having visits from tho present Primo Minister, from Sir Joseph Ward, and now they had a visit from a Minister of equal ability. In feet, Mr. Fisher was well known as the debater of tho party, and ono of tho finest platform - speakers in the Do-' minion. (Applause.) In conclusion, tho Mayor said that he felt suro that the >nudience would hear a most interesting address, and ho promised Mr.. Fisher a.- ' very fair arid impartial hearing. (Loud 'lapplatise'.) Tho Hon. Mr. Fisher, on rising to Speak, was greeted with enthusiastic applause. He thanked the Mayor for his kind Temarks, and stated that it .was at very short notico that ho had 'decided to ■ visit the Thames. He had left Wellington at' iibon 'on Tuesday, arrived at Auckland at 7 a.mi.on Wednesday and had caught the boat an hour later for tho Thames. ' On arrival lie had received a very cordial welcome by His Worship tho Mayor, the member for tho district, and the members of the local bodies, and had been shown found the district. Ho said there wore many points he wanted to discuss. He expected that there were people present who disagreed with film in politics','and he hoped that such was the case,., .because there was not much use .in talking to an audience who agreed with-the speaker.- At the finish of tho Plieceh they might turn against him— (laughter)—whereas, with an audienco opposed to'him, there was a chance of getting somo to change their opinions. Continuing, the' Minister stated that he represented a party which he called the "iisw, party", in ...Now Zealand It was a new party because the majority.of its members wero New Zealand-born. (Applause.) Referring to the old Tory party, as it was called, and tho criticism levelled at it by members of the present Liberal Party, tho Minister said that they had done good work; ■ Whilst it had become the fashion of members of tho Opposition to - besmirch tho old Tories, now dead - and unablo to defend themselves,- it must be remembered that men- like Sir Geo. Grey, John Ballance, and some others had laid the foundations of some of our most important Stato services, such as the Railway, the Post and Telegraph, the Public Trust Office, and others. All these things wore done before tho present Opposition, was. dreamt of. Tho old Tory Party started our cities and gave us our valuable educational - endowments and tho one-man-onc-voto These things wore done before the Liberal J. arty was formed, and there were no hereditary titles except ono. (Loud laughter.) Tho Minister went on to explain why the present party was in and tho other party out. He said that.ho did not think that a single member of the House or a single person in the hall ever anticipated that after tho last general election the stato of political partics would bo so evenly balanced. Dealing with the members of tho House who were now called "rats," and who were considered as having-broken their pledges, the Minister put the position ns follows:—These-members were pledged to support Sir Joseph AVard,. and when he went to the House, took a division, and handed the reins of Government over to the Hon. T. Mackenzie, Mr. Ell, Mr. Hanan and Co., these members wero not pledged to support such a Ministry, and they were then freo to vote as they; wishcd, : and they did so. (Applause.). .-'.".■ .-■', The Liberal Downfall'. Continuing, the Minister stated that the cause ot the downfall .of the' Liberal Party was disintegration'within itsibwir ranks. The Liberal PartyJ when Sir J." 0. Ward camo info '"ollie'e," "Jia"d""'a' strength of 0-1 to tho Opposition's 10, and very little say did tno 1G Opposition members have in the affairs of the country. Was it to bo suggested that the Liberal Party broken down because of the criticism of the 10 mombers of tho then Opposition 'i No! The reason of tho breaking of the Liberal Party was' because tn,e leader led it downhill. Yvlieu'.hiKvantcd a ".new riicniber for his Ministry ho did not take one from tho sixty-four supporters, but practically told them that not one of them was lit lor the pusitiou, and ho went over to tlic other side of the House, and took tho Hon. T, Mackenzie. Then, again, ln> wanted a leader for tho "Upper House. He did not take ono of the turt.y-two members appointed by his own party, but ho went outside,-" and took Sir John Findlay, and raised him up from nowhere," whero the peoplo put him—(Loud laugntcr)—and made him a K.C. or K.C.ivl.G., and an M.L.C.— in fact, lie'"gave' him a higher title than that received by Sir Arthur Guinness, who had been Speaker of the House for many years. -It was the present- leader of the Liberal I'aity.whb expressed-him-self against.-compulsory, training,, and afterwards' he introduced it. --If'was Sir Joseph Ward who appointed the Racing Commission, which was' a" metropolitan .Commission, and which took \away permits 'from tho country clubs, and gavo tlicm'to the metropolitan clubs..'..The .Utacing Commission was really a high-stakes CominissM.i. (Applause.) Sir Joseph Ward abolished the bookmaker, and proposed to abolish the totalisator. All thoie things..were the; cause, of the Liberal downfall. The .Minister said ho Wanted-.it understood' that tho' Liberal Party had passed good legislation, and had done a lot of good work, but the point was whether .men should be returned to Parliament because of the good work done by othors in the past. The Minister thought that; a member's, own merits should be taken into account. Mr. Fisher dealt at length with the strike question, much on tho lines of his previous speeches in other places. One or two members of tho Social Democratic party frequently interjected, and tho Minister replied, much to the amusement of the audience, and at the expense of the interjccLors. He also dealt at length with tho repeal of the Second Ballot Act, tho I'ublie Service Bill, the pensions laws, and other legislation of

the Reform Government, and was frequently applauded. Sir J. G. Ward and the Dreadnought. Dealing with naval defence, the Minister referred to the statement of Sir Joseph Ward that the cost of tho Dreadnought would bo defrayed by three sources only—the altered system of death duties, by income from the racing clubs, and by tho tax on bank notes, and that tho general public would not have to sharo any part of tho burden. Tho Minister described this statement as being wilfully inaccurate. To prove this, ho read Sir Joseph Ward's own statement in his Budget of 1909, as follows:—Dealing with the repayment of tho cost of the Dreadnought, Sir Joseph Ward said: "To moot,this I propose to obtain from the altered system of death duties an additional £150,000; by abolishing tho break hi the long-distanco mileage rates upon tho railways, making tho rates uniform to one penny per mile secondclass, and one penny halfpenny per mile first-class, £100,000 per annum; by the adjustment of tho income tax by making it a graduated one, £80,000; by imposing one per cent, additional upon tho true valuo of all dutiablo goods, £50,000; by charging 2$ per cent, on the total rccoipts'of raco clubs, £38,000; from tho banks, £30,000. Ido not think that any reasonable exception can bo taken to tho various sources from which this increase is to be obtained. It is only fair that all classes of the community should give a slight contribution towards the strengthening of our position in matters of defence." • Continuing, the Minister described as rubbish tho statement that only three sources would be tr.xed. to pa'Jf for tho Dreadnought. Ho drew attention to the proposal of Sir J. G.- -Ward's, whereby _ £100,000 would be obtained from the railways for which everybody would liave to pay, and only £30,000 from tho banks. Concorning the inercase in doatli duties, the Minister pointed out that if the Dreadnought bad not been given, the increased revenue from bis source, as well as tho other sources mentioned, would have gone into tho. General Treasury and could have been used for other purposes. At tlifeiconclusioil of his speech, on the subject of naval defence, th» Minister was'lvarmly applauded.

. Mr. Fishoi; then touched on two local ,-matters which had been brought under his .notice by deputations during the day, viz., confiscation of boats and gear for breaches, pf the Fisheries Act, and trawling limits in the Hauraki Gulf. Regarding the confiscation of boats tho Minister said that- in future thero would bp no more confiscation of boats for breaches of. tho Act, on the grounds that it was unreasonable to fine a man for breaking' the' law and then- take away'his means-of livelihood, and. pre-, vent him/-from earning- tho' amount of the lino imposed.. At the same.time there' was' no 'intention of amending tho Act- deleting the confiscations clause, ! because it was necessary to retain it to deal with cases of wilful and planned breaches of the Act'. Trawling Limits, Regarding trawling limits, the Minister stated that there had never been any intention of granting permission to trawlers to work tho Hauraki Gulf, because ono trawler with twelve men could take away in a short period the means of livelihood of two or three hundred fishermen. He had arranged for Professor Princo to visit tho Thames to confer with the fishermen concerning tho conditions existing. (Loud applause.) In concluding, the Minister thanked the audienco for turning out and for the attpntivo they bad given him, arid on resuming his seat ho was enthusiastically applauded. .ThcMaydi:; asked for question, but none was forthcoming. A county councillor then moved a -hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Fisher for his able and interesting address, and expressing complete confidence in tho Massey Government. This was duly seconded, and tho seconder said he was I sure that with ablo men such as Mr. Fisher tho Reform Party should have little difficulty at tho forthcoming election. Then tho Mayor asked for any amendment, but none was forthcoming, and on tho motion being put it was carried with loud applause, there being only about four dissentient voices. A hearty vote of thanks to tho Mayor for presiding concluded an enthusiastic meeting.