CANDIDATES'SPEECHES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2306, 13 November 1914, Page 7

CANDIDATES'SPEECHES

THE HUTT SEAT V MR. A. M. SAMUEL'S OPENINC ■ -ADDRESS. v v-

. The Reform candidate for the Hutt .electorate, Mr* A. M. Samuel, opened his .campaign last night, when he , addressed about 300 persons in St. James's Hall, Lower Hutt. The candidate 'was listened to. with interest, and he delivered a striking 'speech despite x the ; fact that he 'was suffering from, the . aftereffects of influenza, and had trouble in controlling his' voice. Mr. f'H. Baldwin, the Mayor, of Lower Hutti presided.-: , Mr. Samuel e met with a cordial reception "ton rising. He said he was pleased to .see such a large attendance at a political meeting in the Hutt. It showed that, the electors were going to take a keen interest in politics now, whatever they had: done in the. past. He hoped that the fight between Mr. iWilford and himself would be as fair and above-hoard;as , it was going to be strenuous: . Some little time ago,' he said, there were other candidates in the field, but he would say that the Reform Party was of one mind now. Mr. Bunny had intended to stand, and had he done so he (Mr; .Samuel)' would have' stood down. ' Mr.' Bennigton, another Reform candidate, had'stood down in his interests, and he thanked Mr. Benhing-' ton for his Reform spirit in doing so. There were two other candidates men-, tioned— Mr. iHobbs' and Mr. Welch. They-decided to support the -.' selected. Reform candidate. Now it was going to' be a straight-out fight between Reform and Liberal. He had the honour to. address them as the accredited nominee' of the Reform Party, a party which was united and whose object : was to do the greatest good for the' greatest number. (AppJanse.) The Reform Party stood for the 'government of New , Zealand by New Zealanders and for New: Zealandersi >: Ho. proposed to .rejiew the. pledges made by the Prime Minister in Wellington l on July 6,1911, in the Town Hall.:-That was a remarkable meeting, and. showed that the country apprcciated_ Mr. v Massey and his platform. Nothing was; snid ■by the Opposition after that meeting, but now they had only the parrot cry,; "Broken pledges.!', if they could pet 'nothing better against the Reform Party than that parrot cry, it wae a good omon for the. party. No pledge had been broken or repudiated, arid the Reform Party.dfd more in two years ,and a half, than the other party did; in 21 yearsi . (Applause.) ; The years of the Massey Administration had been fraught with great difficulties, but theso difficulties had , been overcome:

■,-•:■ Reform Pledges Fulfilled, r Coming -to the pledges of lir. Maesey Mr., Samuel said that the first one was reform of-the' financial system. That been done. (Applause and counterapplause.) The. next promise), had been reform'or the fiscal 'system by the reduction of taxation. \ That had not been repudiated. , ',':'/"•' ' , ; . ....

A voice: Has.it'been doneP

Mr. Samuel. said that: the Hon. P. M. B. Fisher.-went to Australia to ar-range-a reciprocal': tariff with Austra-r lia. Unfortunately that could not be. earned put, .because Mr. Fisher (Prime Minister of the' Commonwealth) had been defeated Boon after. Now he was back in' power,.and the matter would, ba again, takeu,up."' The next: promise ,was land :refoTO,',.Dy,'allowing the freehold system. : . ■ That pledge had .been, carried out in its ; entirety, and it was the best .system of land tenure. (Applause.)^V The Jtfassey ..Government had. effectivelyi-'preyeht«l;, I the" r.ejggregation of land... . .'•..''" ' '.'. . A. voice: What about Hawke's Bay? Mr." Samuel: They.: have taken- plenty of land there..V-r-,-/"' ■■■ ■;?'■■■ ■-.■'.'■'■/■..■■

, The,: Native land question, he said, had been dealt with ;in an , adequate manner, and all promises in connec-, : tion with, it had been carried : out. Tlie Legislative Council had been reformed. The opposition to thai reform.had been made by tho>,Liberal nominees. Reform of the Civil Service had been pledged by Mr. Maseey. .That had been "accomplished' by the appointment : of the Publio ■ Service Commissioners. ■ The people : of the country,'.:. he Ihought, realised t!hat' those appointments had been a great booni There.-«•:■? some objection to it, but it swas" mainly by those Publio Servants who objected to a man getting promotion by ability, and not by political' patronage, (He could-assure them that it was now impossible for a" mart .to get adyancemeut m the Civil Service by politioal- patronage.,' It .was only people : who were not worthy of. their jobs who objected to the; Commissioners. (Applause.) Ho could give, many instances where political patronage had' been exercised under the old regime. ■ Mr. Samuel went on to deal with other legislation passed to 'assist local government, - eto.. Coming to social legislation' he pointed to the amendment in the Old Age' Pensions Act which

wa-a proving a boon to the old , pioneers of the. country. ' Industrial legislation had been promoted, and would be further dealt with the next ses-' sion. Reform. of,- the economic system had been'carried out by the Industrial Disputes. Act. Of "all the plodges, said Mr Samuel, not one' had been repudiated. (Applause.) Faced with Many Difficulties. ■ When the Masaey Government came into power they were met with a great many, difficulties, and the first, was a depleted' exohequer. '.'When they took office the balance to credit of, the Consolidated Fund was only-£200,000. It had; beon reduced • from ■ £SOO,OOO to that sum in a short time. Tho Publio

Works Account was nominally iii credit to the extent of' £777,088,/ but there were liabilities against,it',to'the extent of £1,649,349. The State Coal Mines Account was nominally iu credit to the extent of £26,101, but there were liabilities against it, over and above that amount, to the tune of £31,000. "On the other accounts'the credit was mainly dueto unexhausted authorities to' 5 raise loans. Tliere were many short-dated loansj and yet the Massey Government were attacked for borrowing. They had to borrow to develop.the country i but in addition lad to borrow to pay back previous loans. Fourteen millions of • loan money had to.be arranged for*beforo Maroh SI, 1915. When tho Massey Government took offlcp they were left legacies, in tlie form of strikes. Those were left by the Ward-Mackenzie Government. Several of : them had been gpmg on for months,' and the Mackenzie (government made no attempt to ?i°? ft m - AVaihi Btrik e was ono. It had been going two months before tlie itetorm Government, took office. Other Btnkes wero'the slaughtermen's strike at Oamaru, and the Reofton'strike. i\o attempt was made to stop, them, despite the boast of the,. Leader of tl, e Opposition that he could settle .the 1913 striko in two dam In Sir Joseph Ward's term ' of office there.wero 63 strikes, and the Mackenzie Government left three furtlier .strikes ,as a legacy to ..the Massev Administration... Sir Joseph Ward wns asked, on many occasions liow he would have ended.the 1913 strike, in an interview granted to the "Alexandra Herald" ho admitted that the' special lotn'slatioji lie would' have introduced fp r %] le stopping of the striko would liave been to provide'for a secret bnllot of the Btrikers. After that lie said ho would • have read the Riot Act Mr. Massey. was responsible for that idea of a secret ballot of the strikers, in the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, before Parliament in 1013. . Tho other part of Sir Joseph AVnrl's idea was taken from a Labour paimphlo.t, eontaininc; a Ruocch of Sir John Fimllay in the .Legislative Council, in. which, he said tliat if the workers revolted against the civil laws, they had the horsh remedy of the Riot Act. That showed where Sir Joseph

Ward ; got his remedy to settle the strike;. (Laughter.) Some Loans Contrasted. Another difficulty the Massey Govern-: ment had to face was the smal'pox epidemio, and it, like.the other difliculties, was overcome. Then came the war, and he understood that ih several quarters Mr. Massey was blamed for that. (Laughter.) The time had' come when they had to support a party. It was the day of barty Government, and the electors had to consider that the present Government had the confidence of the money market at Home. electors had to remember that, and vote strong for. party. The Massey Government had been charged with excessive borrowing. A voice: They were pledged to reduce borrowing./ ' . '

.Mr. Samuel: They, wore not. They were pledged to prevent excessive and extravagant expenditure. Borrowing had to be indulged in to allow a young Country to .-progress.. The present Government was doing' the best for the country, at the least'expenditure. Ho contrasted, the loans raised by the previous two Governments, and by the Reform Government. The last three loans before Mr. Massey-took office cost per cent., respectively, £4 ss. Id., £4 lls. 5d., and £5 Is. Id. The first loan raised by the Boh. J. Allen cost £4 ss. 4d. lii' 1913 the Government had to raise a £$,500,000 loan'to redeem the Myers .loan. Part of it was unconverted; and part converted, and the cost wau £4 Be. sd. and" £4 35..3d. The last loan, in January, 1914, cost £4 Is. 3d. . • ■ ■ ■ .

• A•. voice:. Soon you will be getting thorn for, nothing. .

' Mr. - Samuel: Yes, that's, right. :Wβ lave been getting them cheaper and cheaper. (Applause.) • Mr; Samuel went, on to deal with the land legislation of the Reform Government, and showed that 7 they had done more for land settlement than the previous Administration. In two years the Massey Government acquired estates t0ta11ing.263,160 acres, as Against ■the previous two years of Sir Joseph ■Ward, when ho acquired 58,846 acres. At the conclusion of his address the candidate answered a number,of questions, and, 'on tho motion or Mr. T., Shiel, a hearty vote of thanks for theaddress was carried by acclamation. There was great enthusiasm, the audience giving three cheers for Mr. Samuel and singing "For He's a Jolly Good iFellow. ,? -■'. . ;••. ~: .■.■•■ MR. AISLABIE AT KHANDALLAH. Speaking at Khandallah last evening, Mr. A. Aislabie, an Opposition candidate for ; the Suburbs seat, said that the life insurance businesein New Zealand required the attention of tho Legislature.- ; The enormous,,sum of money going into life assurance should beproperly protected for. the people. There wae £13,000,000 invested in life insurance- in 'New Zealandj £1,250,000 annually, going in, and about £900,000 being paid back" to the people in life assurance. In some'instances the conduct , of tho. institutions , -was all that could ,be desired, but there were other cases in'which the business was iiot conducted on proper lines, and he thought it would Dβ a great protection to the people, especially to the industrial classes, to have Government supervision over ■lift assurance.' in thie country. Mr. Aisltfbie criticised the Electoral Department for setting out ±o reconstruct the rolls four months before the election,, when, such a huge undertaking .should.have been set in motion -twelve months-.

earlier. He also thought Something should be done in the direction! of controlling the local market for foodstuffs ; by taking, the London markot as a guidej ins£eadj,of a_llp, wing..Jqoal v monop-, olios to nnicß' for,,"thq." food here as what they'were getting in London for it ; after Slipping it 12,000 miles. .The.candidate was accorded, a hearty, vote of thanks on "tte motion of Mr. Kennedy, eeconded by Mr. Daniels. Mr. J. Grant occupied the chair. ' ■ THE GISBORNE SEAT.."..' : .. i (By Telesraplii-Prcsa Association.) . .' ; Glsborne, November 12. Mr. Harry De Latour, Reform-Liberal candidate for tlie. Giisborn© seat, addressed a very large, meeting at the Opera,: House to-iiight, and received a cordial vote of thank 6, explaining thaihe would leave ■ the electors to show their confidence at the polls. The candidate vigorously replied to Opposition critics of the Government, his platform following very closely the policy of the Massey Government. The meeting was a lively one at times, but tie candidate received a good hearing. .

LABOUR IN DUNEDIN CENTRAL. (By Telegraph.—Press Aesoclation.) -. Dun Odin,: November 12. Mr. J. W.' Mnnro, Labour candidate for Dunedin Central, addressed a large meeting, this evening. Hβ contended that tho' Government must take its share of the responsibility for the Huntly disaster, and blamed- it for:- tacitly billing the Factories. "Bill in the Upper House. As for the Food Commission, the Government had failed to rise to the occasion , , and had apparently acted iii the interests of the farmers.' He explained at length a number of planks of the Labour -platform, such ;asT the abolition of monopoly in industry, State control of banking, and accident insurance, electoral reform, and amendment of the Arbitration Act. The Labour Party was against the, Reform Party, but the time might come when it would «lso fight the Liberal Party on certain Bills in Parliament. The Second Ballot, with all its faults, was preferable/to the present: system. He opposed State ■iid to Roman Catholic schools. A vote of thanks and confidence was accorded the candidate. . ■ •,-. • ..-.-:-

TO-NIGHT'S MEETINGS. ' . Mr.' J. P. Luke at St. Thomas's Hall, 8 o'clock. ■•'* '■■'•."■.' ■'■■•.''■ . . Mr. R. A. Wright, at Seatoun, 8 o'clock. ' Mr. W. H. Field, at Ohau, 8 o'clock. ' , MEETINGS TO-MORROW. ■- Mr. R.\A. Wright, at .Normandale, 8 p.m. ; ■'■!"■ : ' •Mr. W. H. Field, at Reikiorangi, 8 p.m; ..' ' OTHER MEETINGS. Mr. R. A'. Wright, at Ngahaurangai' on Monday. . ' Mr. D. Buick, at Palmerston, on Tuesday. ;