POLITICAL SPEECH.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 85, 11 April 1911, Page 3

POLITICAL SPEECH.

ADDRESS BY MR. HERDMAN. GOVERNMENT'S POLICY CBITI- ' CISED. THE LABOUR QUESTION. One of the features of Mr. A. L. HerdmanV meeting at tho Conceit Chamber last night was the number of ladies present. They numbered quite a large percentage of the audience, which consisted of about 300, and appeared to take a full measure of interest in the proceedings. Mr. W. H. D. Bell occupied the chair, and in- opening the j proceedings emphasised the point that | it was necessary to haw an Opposition, and that Mr. Herdman was a most energetic member of the Opposition Party. Mr. Herdman, who received a cordial reception, agreed that no doubt, however eoixl a Government might be, it was liable to make mistakes, and it was necessary to ha.vo a body which would point out and endeavour to correct those mistakes. He went on to i mention that he saw present many ladies I and gentlemen who had assisted him in his candidature for Wellington North at the last election, and said he had always endeavoured to remember the responsibilities thus put upon him. He had always endeavoured to discharge tho.«e duties faithfully — (applause) — although he was c-uite aware that he might have made mistakes. REVIVAL IN PUBLIC LIFE. He had recently noticed signs of a revival in public life, as evidenced by the formation of a Farmers' Party and the National League. The latter party was rightly under the impression that legislation of a very foolish character had been placed on the Statute Book, and was determined that legislators should only place on the Statute Book legislation * which was just and not in the interest of any class. In the past men of business had been careless about such matters, and lie had all along been surprised that similar organisations had not been form-ed \ears ago. He welcomed them as th<> strongest possible evidence of a growing iutereet in the i public affairs of New Zealand. STAMP OUT THE GOVERN WENT. If, he continued, they wanted to 6tamp out the cause of the «xisting evils they must stamp out the Government. (Applause.) He was certain that the Government was' a tremendous incubus [ on the country, and if it was swept off ! the political board they would hear a I huge sigh of relief going up from all ! parts of. the country. (Applause.) LABOUR QUESTION. He had not time to go fully into the question of a Public Service Board, the expenditure, of public works money, or the question of the administration of the railway service. As to the lastnamed hundreds and thousands of pounds had been wasted by the exMinister of Railways through the policy that the railways should only be made to pay 3 per cent., but the present Minister had thrown over that policy and eaid that they should be made to pay. But no Minister could run the railways with due justice to his staff unless 'he had been trained in railway management. (Hear, hear.) He wanted, however, to refer particularly to the Labour question. In the rural districts all over the Dominion there were signs of prosperity : farmers were getting good prices for their produce. So far, the farmers had not been much touched by the Government, and the prosperous condition of the farmers ,was due to the demand for their produce and to the demand for la.rd. But what about the cities? Could anyone say that the industries which oerta'-ined to city life were flourishing? It should be the policy of a Government to encourage the industries natural to the

cities and towns of a country like New Zealand. Had that been the policy of the Government here? It was just as much to the interest of the worker as of the employer that industries shonld flourish. Who , built the railways ? — (A voice : ' ' Labour. ' ' ) — Who supplied t the capital? —(A voice: "Labour.") — It was the man with money for investment who supplied the demand for labour. If the country was to flourish they should look at this question fairly and squarely. In 1894 the Conciliation and Arbitration Act was passed ; since then many othei Acts (forty-five in all) had been passed dealing with Labour, and now the man engaged in enterprise did not know whether he was on his head or on his heels. There had been a tumultuous flow of senseless and tyrannical legislation, interfering with trade and doing no good at all. A Government had no right to legislate for one class or another, and so long as that was done they would never have a happy state of affairs in the Dominion. Surely it was better that a man should invest his wealth in enterprises than allow it to remain in th« bank. I GOOD INTENTIONS. He had no doubt that this legislation was passed with the idea that it would bring about better relations between employer and employee. But had that been done? (A voice : "No," and applause.) It had simply made capitalists shy of engaging in industry and enterprise, and the worker could strike as he pleased. (Applause.) He knew himself of instances in which men with capital to invest had, on account of the eensoless and tyrannical la-ws, taken it out of New Zealand. (Laughter and applause.) The worker was entitled to justice at the hands of the State — and so was the employer, and he went on to contend that every law which embarrassed or harassed industry was inimical to the national well-being. (Applause). A LESSON TO BE LEAENT. The speaker went on to refer to the commercial progress of Japan and China, and their prospects of successful competition vvith Great Britain, and urged that if we are to keep our position among the nations of the world we must have such laws as will enable industry to flourish and enterprise to prevail. (Applause.) Even co recently as last year the Labour Department in its report had pointed out the decrease in the increase of factories in New Zealand, and he gave many figures to show that of late the industrial progress of the Dominion had been on the decrease. He instanced tanning and follmongery, the iron and brass-founding industries, clothing, and boot and 'shoe factories, woollen 1 mills, dressmaking and millinery (a singular fact in these da-ye of hobble skirts and large hate — the reason being that the goods were being imported and not made locally), saddlory and harness, shirt making, aad so on. His contention was that that fact should be seriously considered by the people, for he argued that the chief reason was bad legislation, constant interference by the Government, and the armies of inspectors. Ther« was another reason — the agitators. (Applause.) They were doing an incalculable harm to the country, because they not only did harm to enterprise, but they were misleading the men who followed them. (Applause.) He' wanted the working man to think seriously over this problem for himself ; if he. wanted to see the country prosperous he would subscribe to his (the speaker's) doctrine. (Laughter and applause.) STAMP THEM OUT. " My opinion is that these men should be stamped out. They are^ in my opinion, a menace to the community." (Applause.) There shonld, he urged, be an' overhauling of our legislation, so as to encourage enterprise, to see that Laboiu worked under proper conditions. There should be no difficulty in preventing sweating and setting up a tribunal for the settlement of differences. In his opinion the Arbitration Court v^as useless. (Hear, hear.) The State should also grapple with tne question of the unemployment of the honest worker, but no help should be given to the loafer. (Applause.) He believed that the day would come when legislation on those lines would be passed. If they were going to agitate for a t minimum amount of work for the maximum amount of pay, they would arrive at 1 a condition of national decay. (Applause.) FINANCE. Dealing with finance, Mr. Herdman said that since Mr. Seddon's death the. expenditure out of the Consolidated Fund had risen from £7,122,000 to 38,990,922 ; and the cost of the manipulation of our loans had increased by £246,262; and the pnblic debt had increased from £62,000,000 to £80,000,000. How long were we to go on in that direction, he asked. Taxation had been increased beyond the requirements of the Dominion, and he believed that Improper administration they could have paid for the Dreadnought and the increased armament and the increased cost of defence without a shilling oi extra taxation. (Applause.) GENERAL.' ' Mr. Herdman went on to cay that the people of New Zealand could be divided into three classes' — those who had be-sn bought, those who had been intimidated, and those who were free. The Government had no special policy of its own ; if it went to Otago it preached economy, if it went 'to the West Coast it preached expenditure, and if it went into a no-license district is-/ preached temperance. All it wanted was votes and power. It was not ademocratic Government, it was a despotism. Parliament did what the Executive told them ; the Executive refused details of the cost cf raising loans borrowed by the Dominion, and he urged that the people of the Dominion should rise up and insist that the men who represented them in Parliament should be permitted to get information about ordinary business matters affecting the various Deparements. (Applause.) In I conclusion, he urged that, the Government should endeavour to bring about" [ a condition of things in which there should be in the Dominion a "mens sana in corpore sano." Experiments should, never be conducted unlessi there was the stronge-st possible evidence of their necessity. Under our social conditions there were deeply -rooted natural laws, and if New Zealand was to be n' nation capable- of doing its pnblic duty as- a nation, the country must be governed by men who would promulgate a policy which would make for strength and a robust public life. Mr. Herdman was loudly applauded at the* end of his address, after several questions had been a-sked and answered. Mr. M'Cabe moved a vote of thanks to | and confidence in the speaker. This I was seconded by Mr. W. Cable. I A member c-f the audience moved "that he is not a fit and proper person to iepresent us." This was seconded by a man in the gallery and defeated on the voices. I The original motion was then put and carried amid applause. Mr. Herdman briefly returned thanks and the meeting j concluded.