SIR JOSEPH WARD AT WINTON

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2309, 17 November 1914, Page 6

SIR JOSEPH WARD AT WINTON

A GOOD RECEPTION

FINANCE & OTHER MATTERS (By T«l«Eranh.—Pioeb Association.) Winton, November 16. Sir J. G. Ward, Leader of the Oppo--sition, addressed a meeting of about 1400 people in tho Skating Rink at Winton to-night. Sir Joseph and Lady Ward were received with loud applause on taking their seats on the platform. Tho Mayor, Mt. R. Wilson, introduced Sir Joseph Ward, and . congratulated both sides of the House for the way in which they had sunk party feeling in meeting the conditions arising "out of the war. The Mayor also- welcomed Lady Ward, who had just handed him a cheque for £100 for the Liverpool Fund. (Loud applause.) This was what he called practical patriotism. Sir Joseph Ward explained that the Government had not commenced the small but important lines of railway such as the Winton-Heddon Bush .line, which were authorised before he left office, yet no less than five new railways had been commenced in four Ministers' electorates, including the Prime Minister's, since the authorisation of .the WintoiirHeddoii Bush line, which he was satisfied would pay as well, if riot better than, any of them. Continuing, Sir Joseph commented on the •figures at the last election,' when the Massey candidates polled 108,872. votes loss than were polled against them. As for the war, there would be no two opinions that tho present' unparalleled war was a just one so far ae Britain was concerned. He said that our best and most , effective course was to .support whole-heartedly the good old British Navy. (Applause.) The British Navy, by keeping the main portion of the German Navy blocked up, had enabled New, Zealand and Australia to secure two valuablo positions in the Pacific, which ought never to have been in the possession of the Germans. (Applause.) .

Naval Defence. ■ Hβ. regretted that at the present time it should be necessary for .him to refer to the all-important question of naval defence, but the' question' of adopting the system best.suited to our requirements is forced upon us at this juncture. He had always stood strongly for our Imperial and invincible Navy, under the control of the British Admiralty, and assisted by all parts of tho Empire (Applause.) The present Government were wedded to the establishment of a local navy, and the people niiist realise their responsibility at tho general election. If- the Liberal Party are returned their policy would be to strengthen the great Imperial Navy. (Applause.) It was idle to talk of a local navy, and he had no hesitation whatever in expressing his strong conviction that even were it the best tern the financial burden would be absolutely ruinous to this country. (Applause.) The initial expenditure of' a local navy, based on Admiral Henderson's figures, would be £23,290,000, arid reserve stores £2,000,000, which would result in the imposition of enormous additional taxation, and' retard the prosecution of public works that were absolutely essential for the development of

this young countrv. (Applause.) Sir Joseph Ward proceeded to speak at some length in justification of,tho gift Dreadnought, and the position it had occupied in the present war. Preferential Tariff. w Touching on preferential tariff. Sir Joseph Ward said that tho Liberal I'arty pointed with- pride to' the fact that it' gave a load to the Empire on this vital question by instituting a 10 per cent, preferential tariff.' Necessity as well as patriotism, bado them conserve the wealth of the Empire as well as in war by a common, measure of defence against absorption by the foreignor. . . . • . . Sir Joseph Ward said it. was cool.impudence on tho <part of his opponents' to attempt to deprive him of what was his just due in regard to universal training for this country. With a meanness that would be unworthy of tho most' depraved member of society they were now actually trying to take credit for the establishment of the system! (Hear, hear.) ■• He had prepared the whole schemei and pledged Ins Government Party to it. He .established it-on a basis to cost' about £400,000 a year. His Government invited Lord, Kitchener to visit New.Zealand.and report. Hβ nsked'Lord Kitchener on his return to. London to recommend a capable man to take charge of it. The: man he recommended could not come; arid finally he appointed General Godley, who did splendid work. He (Sir Joseph's) detractors were so narrow that they not only gave him no ■ credit for what was done, but were exercising their evil genius to try and discount what he had been solely responsible for. (Applause.) He not only established the system, but provided the financial basis upon which the whole, structure was orectedj and he had the written statement sent unsolicited this year from General. Godley, stating that' but for what he (Sir Joseph Ward) had done and the assistance he had given him that they could not have.carried out the work of sending and equipping trained men as they had done at this critical juncture in the Empire affairs.. (Applause.) Ho was strongly in favour of internal military training, and what he. said was that to ensure the continuance of the system they had to guard against letting it run away with them .financially, and doing all in their'power to prevent a military castofrom entering into the daily life .' of tho people which had proved to be the curse of, and wouldbe the ultimate ruin of, Germany or any other country that let the military system become its master. (Applause.) Financial Matters.

. The present Minister of Finance had adopted the rule of blaming his predecessors for all kinds of troubles in connection with the finance of the country, and declared he had effected great reforms. If he had, said Sir Joseph Ward ho had certainly done himself a ereat injustice by not having disclosed them in his prospectus for his last loan in. London. His general practice of running down his predecessors was a regrettable trait m his financial character. (Hear, hear.) He (Sir Joseph) bad left tho largest surplus of anv Finance Minister who had ever held office in this country £807,000. He left £4,750,000,- of loan authorities, ncainst which advances 'pending tho floating of. loans could be arranged without the least difficulty. As a matter of fact, he had arranged in. writing for a clear £1,000,000 of advance for his successor, not one- shilling of which was Pl fif Joseph Ward quoted, figures at lenefch to compare his administration ot finance with that of the present Government and said the financial position brought about by the present Government" called for the most serious consideration of the people. When he left office the balance at the nredii of the consolidated revenue was £807,2r6 the largest amount at the credit of tho rovemio ever left in the history of the Dominion, and the amount that had been paid out of revenue by the Liberal Party during thoir occupancy of tio Treasury benches to tho Public works Fund was £9,280,000. In. the loan prospectus issued in London in January last the following statements were made:— "Out of surplus rovemio tho sum of £0.280,000 has been transferred to " tbo Public Works Fund «ince . li?!'l Pinl used for. Iho n umose of opening up, aad improying

the public estate. ' Much of this money is earning over i per cent., and constitutes clear profit." There is a sinking fund for all existing loans, and every future loan has a. sinking fund provided under the Public Debt Extinction Act, 1910. If similar.arrangements were niado for repaying the British debt, it is estimated that the whole of the latter could be repaid in 50 years. A similar 6tatemont was made when the Massoy Government issued a prospectus for the raising of £3,000,000 in London m February, 1913. Mr. Allen was in London at- tliat time; and ho said in'the House tho particulars contained in that prospectus had cqmo under his nctice, but that must bo contrasted with the statement the hon. gentleman made in Blenheim, as reported in tho "Otago Daily Times" of Juno 19 last. Here is what he is reported to have said:—"A circular was prepared in London by tho High Commissioner, and compiled by the figures of the eurplus usually given. He , could have proved that .these figures were accurate, but by doiug so would he not have been cutting his own throat?" Speaking in Parliament on September 17 of this year (Hansard No. 22, page 50), the Hon. Mr. Allen said: "If a Departmental officer is to be attacked by a member of the House, and that officer cannot be here to answer that attack, it is obviously to my. mind-unfair and a gross injustice may lie done." He contended the attack should be directed against tho Minister who was responsible for the proper carrying out of the work of the Department under his control, and not against any individual officer of a Department. In that respect Mr. Allen was perfectly correct, and lio could not in any way divest himeeli of the responsibility of the Government for the etatement contained iu the two circulars issued in London with regard to tho £4,500,000 and the £3,000,000 loans. During the time that the Government had been in office the ordinary expenditure of the consolidated revenue had increased-by nearly £2,000,000 sterling, and the surplus had fallen to such an extent that the-Minister of Finance in his last Budget provided for a transfer out , of revenue this-year to the Publio Works Fund of only £350,000, so that while liis expenditure'had increased'by nearly £2,000,000 his ability to transfer from revenue .to the* Public Works Fund had decreased enormously, while under various heads of taxation the amount that tho people provided had gone up by leaps and bounds. (Hear, hear.) If that was so, as Mr. Allen declared, that last loan would have been floated five times over, ■ and the statement was the £3,200,000 -was not provided for. At the juncture money _ in London was admittedly in plentiful Buppljyyofcthe £3,300,000 remained;unprovided for, and they -wore told again and again that the High Commissionerhad found it impossible to do anything with the loan. And what had happened since? The Primo. Minister,' speaking at Papakura only a few days ago, at the very outset, of His general election campaign stated that the £3,200,000 had been provided for. How singular it was that when money was cheap and a loan for the country was subscribed five times over they were told that nothing \could be done to raise £3,200,000, but when money was dear and they were in the throes of a great Empire war, the Prime Minister announced that the .money had been found. Sir Joseph Ward also quoted official statistics showing the marked increase in interest rates on mortgages under the, Ma-'ssey' Government as compared with the regime of the Ward Government. The Government's finance,, ho said, was unsatisfactory, , and the present position of the finances was far from as satisfactory, as they ought to be. '.-.■■ :. . ■

To-day the Prime Minister and his friends were professing the greatest friendship for advances to settlers and local authorities, and they claimed that they were responsible for the Advances to Workers Act being placed on the Statute-book. This was a niisstatement and.was "disproved by the records. In regard to advances to settlers, he would demonstrate how bitterly the presont Conservative party opposed the Act' when it was introduced. . Mr. Massey voted 34 times against, seven times ' for, and six times did not vote. _ Mr. Allen (tho pre-. sent ■ Minister' of ' Finance) coted 33 times against, seven times for; and seven times did not vote, while Sir Walter Buctianan voted-29 times against, five times for, and ten,times did riot vote. The Hon. W. Harries, Minister of Railways, voted'against the Bill 14 times, and on no-occasion, did he record his,vote in its favour. In face of these records how couldspeople hope for a proper administration of such a progressive measure? The Advances to Sottlers Department was placed on the. Statute Book by the Liberal Government, against increasing hostility and had the, effect of breaking down the close corporation that,had been fighting hard to keep up the high rates of interest. It had saved the people something in'the vicinity of 12 and a quarter millions sterling in .interest pay-" mont alone. (Applause.) ■ If returned to power he. proposed to still further extend the system. Hβ proposed 'to establish an agricultural bank which would deal more effectively with advances to settlers, workers, and local bodies throughout the Dominion. (Ap^ - plause.) ■ ■.:■•'..' After dealing with land settlement the speaker said that in the present elections they had more working farmers standing as candidates in the Liberal interest than Mr. Massey haU. The number of fanners standing in the interests of progress was 25. The.suggestion that they were'going to be controlled by the Red Feds, coming from Mr. Massey, was exceedingly comical as' at the last general election he not only appealed to them to support him, but Mr. Massey also appealed to his supporters in various districts to vote. for the Red Fed's candidate. (Laughter.). Mr. Massey's attitude was now intensely amusing.. He was merely raising a bogy for electioneering purposes, and he knew it. (Applause.) The Liberal Party would not allow.itself to pipe to the tune of any section of the community. (Applause.) If returned they would either govern on constitutional lines and for the benefit of the people as a w.hole; standing by a publicly pledged policy.-or they would not govern at all. They would not hand over the responsibility of government to a committee or shirk the, responsibilities rightly attaching to the hi.ali and honourable office of ■■ Ministers of the Crown. (Applause.) There was a striking ovation and a resolution of thanks and renewed confidence, coupled with a wish to soo Sir Joseph Ward returned as the head of the new Government was carried unanimously and a most corrlial and enthusiastic meeting concluded with rounds of cheers for Sir Joseph Ward and Lady. Ward.