WELLINGTON NORTH

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 60, 4 December 1919, Page 8

WELLINGTON NORTH

MB. NBOWNP, AT KTIT<BTT?N. Mr TT. Oakley Browne Liberal cnmli,lnln for AVeUinsrlon Tvortli. mlfii'P'sed a mectim' in Hi" Ke'burn Kiosk lnsl evenin* Mr. .T. Tinl''lie-on prowled. _ . Mr Prowie =aid Hint in his opinion, instead of the end of Hie world which .nine seenmd to fear, there would be _i "f a now en nn Drcnmher 7 ,tW 'dnv the "rdonous All b 11,,,r" which bad (io'ip so i"nch for tln> i, n ihe would fly triumrhant ove" New V°ilnnd. He ,1-eW [W the Tieform Party wo' tied hand ~',,'.1 fr.nl- tn Hie land monopolist. and m ,'rof" of "lis !'e f'.iolod "erfpin .--b emcnfs bv Vr. W. P- Vathe=on Irnlenendeiit ttefnrm candidate for Vnsler-l-oii, regardin- interference m the eon,(ref Hiere. The land must be cut up. And tho Liberals woro goinj to do it-

next year: for this country would return to power at these elections the party which had such a ureal record of achievement in past ycarri. Ho accused Mr. Massev of having: failed to fulfil his election pledges of 1011, and he declared that Mr. Massev was going to the country without a, policy. Mr. Massey was ask. ini for a blank cheque merely. "Are vou aware that an Expeditionary Force of eighty is leaving New Zealand on. Thursday week for Samoa—pay 10s. a, dav. wives and families taken?" was asked in a Question. Mr. Browne said that ho thought that ho had heard something of a detachment going to Samoa. Ho thought that possibly it might bo due to trouble at Samoa on account of the enforcement of prohibition there. This was a possible reason. 110 knew nothing; positively about the matter. A voice: Then why spread the rumour? Mr. Browne: I didn't start the rumon r.

The voice: Ton are sending it along now.

Mr. Browne retorted that the people had a right to know, anyhow, all about the business.

A unanimous vote of thanks and confidence was accorded to the candidate.

WELLINGTON SUBURBS MR. R. A. WRIGHT AT SEATOTJN. A fairly large number of electors assembled at the Masonic Hall, Sratoun, last night, 11. A. Wright contirtucd his campaign. Mr. Smith was voted to the chair, and briefly introduced the speaker, who was well received. The meeting was lively at times owing to the interjections of a visitor from''the city. After dealing with tho political questions of the day, Mr. Wright drew the attention of the electors to the provision in the Housing Act for village settlements and garden suburbs. Section 37 of the Act provides that any incorporated society of officers in the permanent employment of the Crown may apply to the Minister for the formation of a village settlement or garden suburb. Land may bo purchased by the Crown for the purposes of such schemo. or Crown lands may be similarly set apart bv the Governor-General, and advances may be made to individual members of tho association on tho security of tho land allotted to them, the lmns to bo repayable by instalments deductable from the salary or wages of the officer n.s tho same became payable from time to time. Advances' are to be limited to an amount not exceeding 90 per cent, of the value of the land, and tho estimated value of the prono c od improvements thereon, j Tho instalments, by way of repayment, extend over a period not exceeding 30 years, the prescribed rates of interest "not exceeding , r > per centum per annum." This section of the Act made it possible for public servants to have houses built to suit themselves in a garden suburb. He commended the proposition to those who were interested as one which had many advantages. Tho garden suburb was'-, becoming increasingly popular. It appealed to tho great majority of the people who were anxious to escape from the city with its congested areas and narrow streets, unrelieved bv anything in the nature of treet or shrubs.

After answering a number of questions Mr. Wright ..was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.

JIB. SLOANE, AT MIRAMAR. Jfr. Dunbar S'.onne, Liberal candidate for Wellington Suburbs, addressed a good gathering of electors o.f Miramar at the Town Hall,' Miramar, last night. Mr. S. Jr. Stone was in (lie chair. Mr. Sloane spoke on many of the labour questions of the day. The essence of the contract was, said the speaker, cooperation between the employer and the employee. He believed in the rig-lit of Capita! and Labour to organise, but authority must be vested in either side to meet half-way and. ad just differences.. By the establishment of a general superannuation scheme, or national unemployment insurance scheme, the future of the worker would be established. They must remove that uncertainty for his future and give everybody in the country a stake in the country. That was tho surest and quickest "' way of kicking away the "soap box" from nnder the feet of the agitator. He was convinced that the fear of unemployment, ill-health, and old ag<; were the factors which made the worker such an "easy thing" for the agitator, who, by his preaching of direct action, strike, and go-slow, was really kicking the worker down. The employer must realise his responsibility as wes as tho worker, and houc.stly endeavour to nut 'Labour on a fair and proper footing. Speaking of taxation, Jfr. Sloane drew attention to same of the obvious anomalies which existed in the present system. Company taxation, which lfft a loop-hole for income tax to be added to the selling price of any article, must be altered, and dividends must be taxed, the onus being upon the companies to supply full particulars of same (o tho Tax Department. Land, which to-day was taxed oil the unimproved valuesvalues set some years ago—must ]>o revalued at once and taxed accordingly. ]n regard to income tax, the point (lie speaker made was that at present tho graduation ceased at iCGiflO,'and many people in the country receiving incomes of 7, S, 10, up to 20,000 a year were paying the same rate of graduation as the person with the income of JifilOO. This, ho said, was wrong and unjust. The "total amount ot income and land tax collected per year was over seven millions, and lie ventured to say that had the incidence of taxation been properly applied twice to three times that sum could liavo been collected without placing any extra burden on tho shoulders of the small man. Those best ablo to afford it should and must be made to nay. The speaker advocated a Stale banlr, but considered it would not be wise for Ihe Government to buy out the Bank of New Zealand, but to withdraw its investment from that bank and make a clean start with a permanent head and specially selected board of directors, who must lie bankers. Municipal trading was advocated by Hie speaker, in order to secure a good suppi v of winter milk for the city, also {lie encouraging of the fishing industry bv the municipality in order to put a plentiful supply of fresh fish at the disposal of our citizens. A motion of thanks nnd confidenco

was proposed by Mr. Telford and seconded by Mr. Hicks, and carried unanimously.

OTAKI SEAT MB. W. H. FIELD'S CAMPAIGN. Mr. W. n. Field addressed an audience of about eighty at the Plimmerton School on Monday evening. Tho chair was occu* pied by Mr. Mildenhali. Mr. Field took occasion to refer to matters of local interest, particularly tho proposed deviation of the railway and road between I'aremata ,»nd Paekakariki, aiid said that lie was tEe first public man to lake the matter up and place proposals beforo tho Government. Mr. lliley's report, he said, made it quite clear that the railway route over l'ukcrua saddle must bo abandoned, and tho number of accidents, and the increasing motor tiaflic upon tho present l'uekakanki Hill, Road 'rendered a Change imperative. Tile railway was to go round the sea coast, but the alternative routes for tho road had yet to be examined and reported on. The present road over tho hill had-,.been substantially improved on tho Paekakariki end recently, but the Horokiwi Gorge portion of it was not yet dealt witn. In any case, a traffic bridge which he had advocated years ago must be provided at Paremata to give Plimmerton direct road communication with-tho outsido world. Mr. Field replied to several questions chiefly of local interest, in particular ono as to the preservation of tho use of the coast line near Plimmerton for the public when the railway deviation was made, to which Mr. Field gave a favourable Teply. Mr. Field also dealt with a challenge he lwd received from the official Labour to dobate on a local platform tho Socialistic objective of the Extreme Labour Party. This, Mr. Field said, would bo futilo and a waste of time. Tho point at issue was whether the Labour candidate had or had not explained, to tho electors the true meaning of the objective in question, or whether he had not :efraincd from dealing with it at all. Mr. Field said he had placed his interpretation on it, aiul he held that it was beyond doubt the only one. If tho Labour candidate could find some other meaning for it, it was his duty to placc his objective and platform clearly beforo his hearers, and this ho had not done, whereas he (Mr. Field) lwd taken pains to propound every item of his own party's policy to the electors. Notwithstanding cold and wet weather about fifty electors attended Mr Fields meeting at Paraparaumu on luesdfty evening. Mr. ]?iold dwilt fully with tho unscrupulous attack which , ueen mado upon him and his wife and family in respect of their land transactions. Mr. Field said that if tho truth had been told there would have been nothing tor him to reply to, but gross misstatements had been circulated, and tho perpetrators were fully aware that an untruth once started could never bo completely overtaken. He referred to the rumour that lie was endeavouring to purchase the island of Knpiti, and that he had taken advantage of a soldier being forced into camp to buy out nis farm. Both statements, he said, were egregious falsehood--. A unanimous vote ot thanks was accorded to Mr. Field, on the motion of Mr. P. Wootton. . '