THE ELECTIONS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2301, 7 November 1914, Page 9

THE ELECTIONS

ANOTHER SUBURBS CANDIDATE MR. A, AISLABIE ADDRESS AT MARANUI HALL, Mr. 'A. Aislabie, a Liberal candidate contesting the Suburbs seat, addressed the electors'in tho Maranui Church Hall last night. ■ Mr. T. Lambert presided, • and there was an attendance of twenty. The weather was inclement. * .Mr. Aislabie said that he had pleasure in stating that he supported the whole of Sir Joseph Ward's > policy , speech, and if elected would adhere to it. Aβ to 'local matters, he said that the milk supply was one of tho most important questions, in view of the fact that thousands of gallons of water were. paid for as milk by tlw Well'uigton citizens every'year. The present. system of the supply was at fault. The milk was 'apparently tampered with after it-left the railway station. His idea was-."to have a rigorous test from ihe time -the, milk left the farm. .The carter should then be made responsible, ond he would take gcod care that he came but from the dairy with pure milk. The liquor question.was another matter which was troubling the country, from one end to-tho otheiy and. many people were of the opinion .that by prohibiting liquor they were going to do away with the consumption of it. His' idea was that by prohibiting the sale they would drive people to manufacturing it in their own homes. He admitted'that there.was a gross evil in connection with tho liquor traffic. The fact that it was restricted to a few individuals gave them increased wealth year by year. Hb idea. „was to have one standard for all liquor; They could then put an increased tax oh it, and allow the licence to sell at a fair'business profit. Tho brewer would get a fair-profit only, and the Government would get a share of the returns. Strict Government, supervision should be exercised from start to finish, but he dad not think that State. control wae advis'able.

Reduction of Licensing Vote. . He was in favour of reducing the eixty per cent, majority to fifty-five per cent. There should be a majority on Buch-.a vole as the liquor vote, but o5 per cent, was sufficient. ' - : Another, matter which had interested him was life insurance. Some of their life institutions - were conducted .on satisfactory lines, but he proposed that a Government inspeotor should have a look at them. In addition to -those good officers there were others which consumed four times, too much in running ■ expenses. There'. was no control over them, as most of: the head offices were in '.Australia. ; There was a million and a quarter of public money going into life insurance offices evevy, year, aad surely the Government could appoint a Commissioner to see that their affairs •were properly conducted. The people s savings should- be guarded, so he ob•jected to the heavy tax the insurance offices had to pay. Why, he asked, should the Government tax the thnrt of the people? '.'-.'.

! Tax on "the^Bachelcr." : "I have another tax here," said the candidate'. "It's-a tax on the bachelor. He is a fellow who has been getting off scot-free all along the line." The result of luxuries, he said, had been that the cost of living'had gone up, but "Mr. Bachelor" paid not a dollar of that. He wont along paying the same old'£l a week'as he aid twenty, years ago. In addition to ■ that they should give ; him some little incentive to take up his responsibilities. There had been a decrea.se in the marriage rate in New Zealand, and that should not be the case in a country'like New Zealand. One of the reasons for it was the high -cbsVof living. "Mr. Bachelor" looked at it, and shook his bead, so they would have to help him towards marriage.- A fraduated' tax would meet tho case, [e wanted to get at the man who.got £5, £6, £7, or £8 a week, and spent "it all on himself. The spinster also-de-served eome consideration. She might be most deserving, but simply because someone did not come along and ask, her she had to sit on the shelf. A. good tax on the bachelor would sot him, thinking. Dealing with land he said that the ■Liberal platform was to put,on a graduated tas, to make thp large holder cut up his estate. He' strongly favoured the State holding all its land; everything, should be leasehold. The purchase of estates, he thought,* was becoming too cumbersome. He spoke against the Government giving email holders money, to purchase the freehold, when others could not get a bit of leasehold. A. vigorous village settlement policy; should .be pursued, and this would give the people a taste to get on the land. Education and Health.

School books should-be printed in the Government Printing Office, and sold at cost price. The man with four or five children, should not bo taxed to give ; the bookseller a profit. Children should be given more! instruction in eugenics, to enable them to grow up into healthy citizens. A certain amount was done in that direction, but. very little was done in explaining the working 'system'of the human body. For his part he would like to see the Bible read as much as possible, both in the schools and elsewhere, 1 but he did not think the advantages were worth it if they , were going to stir up strife by sdyocat-, ing its inclusion in the school.syllabus. Children •should be compelled to go to the Sunday schools. "Until the Bible could be worked in harmony with the school system, it should be kept out. The Now Zealand prison system was a disgrace, and he advocated the establishment of a prison farm settlement in every province. He commended Sir Joseph Ward's policy to place.£s m the Saving Bank for every baby born. He would go ono. further, and pay £o to the many cases where it would be a godsend when the child was born. A State bank, with the sole right of note issue, should be established in New Zealand, also a'State woollen industry. There was quite sufficient work within tuo Government .to provido business for .0 Stato woollen factory. ■ , \ A Local Navy—But Not Yet. As to tho navalquestiou, lie did not think New Zealand was in a position to build up a local navy. A subsidy to the British Navy gave adequate protection,' but that could not go 011 indefinitely. Tuo iron oro industry should net" more attention, ami in fifty or sixty years they might bo iiv-a position to start a navy of their own. It took a long time, but once they were able to nroTluce the. steel they could lay aside £200,000 or £300,000 a year to start tho navy. He favoured the adoption of a State ferry service, especially botweoii Wellington and i'icton, when the trunk lines were joined up.' More attention should also bo given to water power. It was a good proposition, .and would have to be tackled some day. He proceeded to deal with some, of tho defects of the present Government, but said that ho did not pay a great deal of attention to party politics. He supported Sir Joseph "Ward, however. The abolition of the. Second Ballot, without anything in its place, was a bad policy. Ever since the Massey Govern men fc got into power they had made a strong claim lor Liberalism, but directly a Liberal measure enme bci'oro them they grappled with it in tho Lower House, but throw it out in the Upper House, which was stocked with Tories. He referred to tho Bill to relievo the nours of women woollen workers, which

was thrown out by tho Legislative Council. The appointment of a railway manager at £3000 a year was, to his mind, "a pretty tall order"; £2000 a year would have been quite- sufficient. Allowing tho Maori the right to sell his land was a pretty serious matter. The canteon scandal was another error, and the Government showed gross neglect in not bringing down the Coal Mines Amondroent Bill before the Huntly' disaster occurred. Forty-three valuable lives had) been lost through the gross neglect of the Tory Government, and yet they wished to shirk their .responsibility! in view of the evidence.

Why He Contests the Seat. Mr. Aislabie invited questions, and ihe was asked what object ho had in standing, when he knew perfectly well that he would only be splitting the Liberal vote in the electorate, and letting the- Uefor'm candidate in? He replied that .he was not vitally interested in party, but was a staunch Liberal. He claimed that he had just as much right to stand as any of the other candidates, and he did not know what explanation they had given on the point. He was sufficient of a Liberal to meet other candidates with views similar to his own, and draw for the right to stand, with those who appeared, to have' a chance. His friends had thought that be was as good as others standing, and therefore he camo out to offer his service*. "Will the candidate assure the meeting that he; is not acting in the interests of the Reform League in contest-' ing the seat?" asked the s same questioner. / . The ohairman/(laughingly): That's a pretty rich question. ..Mr, Aislabie: "Yes." He said that he was not worth much, but he would "etake nis bottom dollar" that he wae a true Liberal. Tho'candidate was accorded a vote of. thanks.. MR. S. A. WRIGHT AT KAIWARRA.

At the Methodist Hall,, last night Mr. R. A. Wright delivered a political address, in which he gave his reasons for supporting the Government. Mr. Bowden was elected''chairman.... The. candidate received a good hearing, but. there were- many interjections. Questions were very numerous. Mr. Wright denied that the present Government, was composed entirely of wealthy men. The head of the Government was a successful small farmer. He was in favour of allowing women to.become candidates for. Parliament. It was nritrue that the Hauraki Land Bill had been passed in the interests'of a certain member of Parliament. It was. incorrect : to . say that the large estates were undervalued to escape taxation. The'increase in the 'graduated land tax'was-a-sufficient answer. • The Government had not packed the Legislative Council with its .wvii nominees. 7he Council refused to pass the Reform Bill, depriving Governments of the power of nomination and making the Council elective, and therefore it became necessary to create new Councillors who would pass it. . The Government had pledged itself at the last geueral election to reform the Council, and in consequence it could not permit its democratic, proposal to be held up by tho nominees of past Governments who feared to "trust the'people.';. Mr. Massey had not opposed the principle of the Old Ago Pensions Act. On the motion of Mr. Flaws a vote of thanks was passed to the candidate. ■ ' ~. Mr. Wright will speak at Paremata this evening at 7.30. . . • MR FITZGERALD AT JOHNSONVILLE. Mr. J. E. Fitzgerald addressed a meeting of about fifty electors at Johnsonvillo. last evening. '.The candidate, who was woll received, combated the statements made by the Government candidate in connection with the Dreadnought. :'He stated that , in ■ our present defence system the Liberals recast' thefinance, with tho object ofproviding the necessary money. The taxation for the defence system and the Dreadnought, was. divided into three classes as follows:—(1) Death, duties, (2) .bank note tax, (3) totalieator tax. Mr. Fitzgerald dealt minutely with tho three divisions to show that this tax was placed upon the shoulders of those best able to bear it, and refuted the statements' made by the Government candidate. Dealing with finance, .Mr. Fitzgerald compared the Myers.loan of 1912 with the Allen loan, of 1913, and stated that whereas the former after conversion cost the people £4 Ss. lid. per cent, per annum, Mr. Allan's loan cost the taxpayer £4 ss. 4d. per cent, per annum, and ae a matter or fact, he added, -the British investor has no confidence in the bungling financing of the Reform Party. It was a senoue sign of the times that they demanded' in no uncertain language spot cash, and in this demand thoy were, ho eaid ; quite justified, more especially when it was remembered that the tactics adopted by the present Government to discredit the Dominion prior to the last election. Ho also dealt at some length with the land question and'other matters.. |Tho candidate was accorded a hearty vote of thanks and confidence, au-d a strong coir.mrfcfcee'was 6et up.-

Mr. A. M. Samuel met about forty of his suppqrtere at Lower Hutt on Friday night, when, committees were set up to organise his campaign. Mr. E. P. Bunny was appointed chairman,of the General Committee, Messrs. ■R. W. Short and M. W. Welch chairmen of the-two local committees, and Messrs, •F.-P. Wells and P. Eales joint eecreMr.' W. H. Turnbiill announces that he will ■ be a candidate in Liberal interests for the Wellington North electorate at the forthcoming election.

. LIBERAL CANDIDATE FOB MATATOA. ■■ : (By Telegraph.—Press -Aesoclation.) Gore, November 6. A large meeting of: Liberal supporters from, alkparts of the electorate last night unanimously chose -Mr.- W. G. MeehefTerty, of Inyercargill ; to contest the Mataura seat in. the Liberal interest. Mr. Meehefferty, who was present, acceded to the request. MR. WILSON'S CAMPAIGN. (From a Correspondent.) Hauturu, November 6. 'Mr. C. K. Wilson hold a meeting on Thursday at Teanga at midday, and at Kinohaku in the evening. He met. with a splendid reception in both places, loday ho.met the settlors at Hauturu, and ho proceeded to Koralia, and addressed tho electors there.in tho evening. I NELSON'S REFORM CANDIDATE. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) Nelson, November 6. . Mr. T. A. 'H. Field, Government candidate for the Walson seat, opened his campaign to-night, wh.cn .he ad- • dressed a well-attended mpetin<; in the Provincial, Hall. Ho said ; ho was , no believer in party Govornment, but while- it oxisted thero was nothing to bo , gained by being independent. If elected, he would vote for the Reform Party because he was too much of a Liberal and Radical to support Sir Joseph Ward. • A vote of thanks and confidence was declared carried, and 'the meeting concluded with cheers for SinJosepli Ward and Mr. Atniore from a section of tho audience. There's not another carrying ' office beside ourselves, having offices of Its own in every town of importance in the Domin- ■ ion; 'We are first for furniture moving, first for parcel'forwarding, first for handling baggage.-The N.Z. Express Co., Ltd.. 87-91 Customhouse Quay.—Advt. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile ■ Agency Co., Ltd., will hold ;i stock «ilo at" Levin on Moiidav next.