Rangitikei Election

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 68, 25 November 1890, Page 2

Rangitikei Election

KNIGHTS OF LABOR AND THB CANDIDATES, Bf r Macakehur's. Reply. The Secretary Emghts of Labor, FeUding, Sia, — In response to your request to put in writing, tay answers- to- the various items in the political platform adopted by the United Assembly on October llth r 1890, 1 forward you herewith my replies, giving each plank seriatim with its-appro-priate answer. I reserve to myself the* right of publishing the questions and,answers, as they are all matters- of public* interest. , 1. That arbitration be rendered compulsory in all labor disputes? — If thissimply means that before proceeding to a lock-out on the one hand, or to a strike on the other, the employers and employed should be compelled to refer the matter in dispute to arbitration, there can be nogreat objection, although probably in a large majority of cases the referencewould be without result, as one party, or the other, would refuse to be bound by the decision. But if it is meant that bylegislation the disputing parties shall bebound to submit to the award of thearbiters, .then I must point ant -that no law could compel an employer to continues his business at a loss, or force men to work for wages that they are not prepared voluntarily to accept. ■' .2. That a tax be imposed on the unimproved yalue, of land in lieu of the Property Tai and of Customs duties/on the necessaries of life to the extent of ?— This is too large a subject to deal with exhaustively in a letter like the> present. I shall probably have a good deal to say on the incidence of taxation: when on the platform. Suffice) is to say just now that lam opposed, to such s> change, principally because 'it .would, make the weight of taxation Ifall1 fall still more severely on the country settlers— the producers— than it does 1 at, present,, and proportionately lighten the'burd«nson the dwellers in the large cities, where 1 mortgages and personal property are me* fr largely held; Sir R.Stdut,the acknowledged leader of the party that has. always professed itsfelf in favor of a land tai and against the Property Tax even with fb* assistance of a financier like Sir .Julius Yogel, shrank from the responsibility of making the change during the three yearshe was in office, though pledged to the alteration. The other day at Napier Sir R. declared it to be impossible to Institute •• Land Tax 5 without throwing \an undue? burden on the country districts, which was a thing to be avoided. Such aa admission from an ex -Premier, who has had an opportunity of puttihg T hifriheorie« into practice," possessing as h^ did a majority in the House for three years, should, have great weight with the electors. At every general election some cry r iß raised and policies proposed, which are to be •*' panacea for all bur' political evils. Laßt election it was Protection •' Give us Protection, it was said, and New Zealand will be regenerated. ; Wages will rise, farmers will haye a market close to their doors, '&c.,:&0. Well- we have how got a Protective tariff, but wage 3 hate-not risen, and farmers- prices are still ruled as they always will be by foreip'naairWsV and not by. the internal demands :This election a Land Tax is tb : sef -everything; right, a tax which,: under the'.pretehce of exempting improvements^ wilKreally exempt the mortgagees and 'owners of personal property, and'tax the producer. 3. That' a legally recognised day's work shall consist of eight hours?— This plank, though desirable 'in America -and someother countries, scarcely applies here? whera eight hours for a day's \vork~ has. been the established ouatom for forty years. So long as every one fe left fre« to contract to work any number of hours he please , or necessary exemptions ar» made,l see no objection to recognising the* prevailing custom by law. != - 4. That a special tax be levied on absentee landholders ?— I am /opposed to this plank on grounds of equity-abd expediency. A' country like New^ZSaland that owes a public debt- of thirty or forty millions to absentees to" say nothing of private debts, should be doubly cautious about enacting a class tax of the kind proposed. It would drive away and keep away capital,, raise the rate of interest, stifle enterprise, and diminish the demand for labor, thus doing ten times more barm than the money! derived from, the tax \trould compensate for. -FJer what would be gained if even a douhle Tax were imposed on absentee, lajidholders? The value of the land held %j them is, by a Parliamentary return of last session (H, 23), ,63,210,489; that -is t6 r say, another penny in .the £ would produce about £13,000 to the Treaßflry,e\en if we assume that all these absentoea hold iaora than £500 worth of property, while th» four millions of personal property; they hold would escape taxation. / '" 5. That there be no more private or political railways ?— As to prifaite rail- , ways the electors of this district should be> the last to denounce them, seeing; that we have prbfitted so much by the Wellington and Manawatu Company's? operations. The railway between Longburn -and Wellington would most probably not have been completed to this day hail' not the Company stepped in. As the shareholders have never yet received a penny of dividend it appears to /me thaY the advantage is at present all on the; side of the public As soon as the railway becomes a paying concern the Government can step in and take it over under tha Act. Each private railway; if any more* are projected, which is not likely, musk be judged on its merits as the case arises* I could agree to no sweeping general rule.. As to political railways, by which term I presume is. meant non-paying railways* the construction of which has be£a forced on the Government of the day by political preßßure,everyohefsbpppßadtOßUcha C l aBS of work in theory. The stppertera/oFpoh'tioal railways, have always/ maintained, they would pay sooner or later; As lam opposed to further borrowing "for any railway construction until our finances are on a Bounder basis, I gh^li not, if elected, support political or nbn'-poli-cal railway construction. It mast be understood that the above does not include any proposal for the State taking: over the Wellihgton-Manawatu Bailway under the terms of the Act. 7. That the Legislative Council be abolished?-^! cannot agree toi this.; TheLegislative Council does most useful work in the legislative machine, and is a comparatively cheaply maintained«nart of . our constitution.. I hjave always] advocated a limitation of the ierm . of from seven to ten years as a guarantee thai i> man shall not remain a of the Council long after he hkki outlived his usefulness. I think the members of the Council should be paid, as now, £100 s> session. If the position were honorary only it would be confined to men of wealth, who could afford the time and' expense, while men who were poor, though, - able, would be shut on I. -. . - 8. That State aid to Secondary Schools shall oeaee as far as is legal and practi- " oable ?— lt must be remembered that the) only State aid given to Secondary Schools, with the exoeption of endowments set aside by the old Provinoial Councils, is an. wdirsot aid in the shape of? for scholarships, What I complain of ia these fioltelarship* is that this.^amount i» t99 8«iftll W W of aoy oso toaojjil<ijg

the rural districts which has shown special ability, the cost of having to live away from [its home in order to attend a Sec- ; ondary School in a large town being too great for its parents to afford. I think that the amount of the scholarships should be re-adjusted, so as to give special ■-•'■ scholarships to country children, which would put them on an equal footing with children living in a town near v, Secondary School. At present, owing to the cost of living away from home, a child in ■the country has practically no share in the educational advantages supposed to be open to all, but in reality exclusively ' confined to town scholars. I think, with the exception of these scholarships, See- ,.,: ondary Education should be self-supporfc-ing, and that the revenue from endowments should be colonialised, and be • ; applied to the reduction of the cost of Primary Education This is, however, • . mot practicable at present, as the bulk of these reserves lie in Canterbury and Otagcyboth of which districts haye a very powerful vote in Parliament. — Yours /faithfully,: ,? /•■'' ~ . D, H. Macarthur. [The "plank" "That the sale of Crown Lands: and the wholesale trade in Na- ' • . tive Lands shall cease" was not submitted to Mr Macarthur — Ed. F.S.]