REPLY TO SIR JOSEPH WARD

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 66, 11 December 1919, Page 8

REPLY TO SIR JOSEPH WARD

MR. A. D. M'LEOD AT ; MARTINBOROUGH A FIGHTING SPEECH By Telegraph.—Special Importer. ' Martinborougni December 10. Mr. A. D. M'Leod, Reform, candidate ' for, tho Wairarapa seat, spoke to a crowded audience in the Town Hall, Maryborough this evening, making reply to the speech of tho Leader of the Opposition 011 Monday. He was in his best fighting form, and he made a spirited and 'effective rejoinder to Sir Joseph ■Ward. Mr, M. R. Smith, chairman of the Town Board, presided. Mr. M'Leod said ho wiehed to congratu- ■ ' late the people of Martinborough on tho manner in which they had reooived the Leader of tho Opposition on Monday evening. He had been told early in tho campaign that a few "whizz bangs" would drive him out of the trenches. He was still in' tho trenches, and some "big . stuff" had been :ymt over in addition to "whizz bangs." He had been advised bj*Reform headquarters that "big stuff was availablo for him if ho needed assistance, but he had replied: "No. Line holding well, 'flunk we can get through in this fight." He was being accused oi being "011" with the old Conservative j Party, accused ef that'party's crimes of years and year's ago. Those things belonged to the dark ages. He felt with regard to them very much like tho little boy who, when his school teacher asked in a gruff voice: "Who killed Abel?" replied: "Please, sir, I didn't." (Laughter and applause.) He had onoe been inolincd to favour a State bank, .and, ho Still saw advantages in the , soheme, but 110 had come to the conclusion that a. State bank was a dangerous ..expedient. The Commonwealth bank .showed quit© remarkable figures, but sound critics ascribed tho great apparent success of tho bank'to the large amount of paper money on issue in Australia,. , which was a source of weakness and., not. of strength. The figures did not, thes* criti.es said, represent real mouey, but , merely paper. The bank was not strong "enough to enable the Government to pay the soldiers' gratuities in cash. Mr. Hughes had to arrange with the private banks to pay half of . the amount. What had been our past experience in ■■New Zealand of State coal mines? They showed, it was said, a profit of £33,090, ■ ■ but the mines paid no taxes and no proper provision was made for depreciation, although the mines were wasting assets. If a proper balance-sheet were , produced it would show not a profit, but - a loss. Sir Joseph Ward had suggested a profit of ,£350,000 a year out of nationalising the mines. This was pure'humbug. .What would be the result if the Government made a profit of such an amount? The people would at once demand .cheaper 'coal. Tho unrest in the mines was not due to any wages question. It was a political agitation aimed at securing nationalisation of the mines, but jf the mines werenati&iialised coal would assuredly be dearer, and there would bo as many strikes as before, . . Wild Promises, Mr. M'Leod criticised Sir Joseph "Ward's ■ housing .scheme, saying that at ■'present it was merely a nromise, whereas Mr.. Massey had got busy as soon as he came. back,\ and put his■_ scheme on the Statute Book without saying much about Jit.. The people of Martinborough must have smiled when they heard Sir Joseph Ward tell of his ten and sixpenny houses, Sir Joseph Ward was going to get money out of the Post Office at 31 per cent." Tho cost of a jiouse and land could not exceed <£7.10, for the rent of it wciuld be some .£.£23 a year, and . this' made no provision for sinking fund, insurances, nnd repairs. The race, of building MM houses in four years was. absolute. nonsense. There were no ar- - ti'sans for the work, and the work could never be dene without bringing very large numbers of men into the. country, and, these men would bo 0, rnurce of ' danger;if there should be a dead stop when tile big scheme went through. - • 'i.'Sir Joseph Ward was impatient now' to rush the hydro-electric schemes to cci/hp'.etion. but what, had .the Liberals done in the years that fiiey were in 'power? When the rate of interest was only 34 per cent., when the debt of the country was less than half its present amount, the Liberals made water power a State monopoly; kept other veonl" .from-doing the.work; began one little •pehema at Lake Coleridge and left it. to the ?fa«sey Govm-iijnent to ciirrjr it out. (Apnlause.) . The 1 idea of buying hin»e stacks of machinery for all the gehemes. in advance was utterly absurd, . and he, could not 'understand how a busir.opa man could make such a proposal. It . was quite true that there was great need "for more .workers in this country, and more labcrnr must b* brought, in, but it would be a very ilan--gerons thing to "bring such very Iru-go Snumbers of men to this country for these Special works without making provision for'the time when the works would be . completed. Them would almost certainly be a period of serious unemployment 1111- ■ less industries were developed to absorb the . labour. He believed that our. railways shnu'd be pressed on. fairly. rapidly, but the progress should be on sound, lines. To talk of building all the unfinished lines of this country in three years -was absolute rot. How, he asked, are you going to introduce sufficient labour., to, finish all these-lines, hundreds of miles' of. lines, begun, most of them, by tho liberal J 1 arty 25 years ago, but not built at was rate Sir Joseph Ward now proposes? Sir Joseph Ward Bowlod Out.. His references to our little local rail-n-ay did not: do justice to' Sir Joseph Ward as leader of. a 1 great party in Parliament. He threw out this little voteeatching 3prat of the MartinboroughFeatherfiton railway. I wiis chairman of the Enilway League 15 year.,, and I know , something about this .railway. Sir Joseph Ward twits the Government with having failed to finish this railway in seven. years, and five of those years wero war years. Why, it took nine years under Sir Josenh Ward's party to get the railway authorised. (Applause.) To finish the railway now in six months would require 600 men at least. It is nonsense to talk of getting 600 men for 1 that little line when the rest of the country was crying out for men. I will Bay no more about it. ftpplause.) " Better Roads. Sir Joseph Ward had talked airily of the Government maintaining the arterial loads. But. it was 110 very easy matter ' to .determine which were arterial roads. " It would lead to log-rolling and political jobbery, for every, local body would lie trying to get a road declared an arterial road.« It would lead iu the end to ' all the roads being taken over by the Stale, ami thru 'lie • roads would cost the taxpayers about three times as much. The local bodies' had been calling for 2. Local Government Dili for 25 years. Hnw fur ahead had they got in the. days of flie Liberal Government? They I'j'.d 'rot further ahead in tho two years before the war under the Massey Government than in ;-,U the vears of Liberal Government. The reason was thai the Liberals wanted to keep the' eld system because it lent itself (o~ |ioli':;wi patronage. He. claimed to have sum? knowledge of' the road problems, and it was not a simple matter as Sir Josenh Ward would ,-uggpst. ]f the Plate spent three or foil? millions 011 making good roads there would still be heavy . xpenciiture on maintenance. Better roads wero a necessity for this country, but .there would never be less taxation. If we got the good roads they would cost nioi-'j. and not ]»;« than Hie presrnt roads, but tliey would give better service. The Best and Most Progressiva. "I stand .or fall by Mr. Massey's programme," said Mr. M'Leod. , "J. support it because I think it is one (f the rhoat and most progressive, that, has , been 'put forward in this country ,for. zimny rears. If I fail to see eye- to eye with Mr. Massey on any question that is mado a paity question, and I consider I hat tho proposal is 'not in the interests of tho general welfare of this country, then I

will go back to von nnd say I cannot follow this man any longer; .!o with uie as you wish- Put mo out or put mo in again." Mr. M'Leod paid a high tribute to Mr. Massey for his big fight 011 behalf of New Zealand for, a sliaro in the phosphates of Nauru Island. 111 that fight Mr. Mnssoy had done a very important service to this country. A vote of thanks was accoi'ded to the candidate, with hearty applause, and before the meeting dispersed cheers were given for "Good Old A. D„" the name, bv which Mr. M'Leod is called always in Martinborough.