WAIAPU ELECTION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1616, 1 December 1905, Page 3

WAIAPU ELECTION.

ADDRESS BY MR G. E. DARTON

Tha Theatre Royal was crowded to tho doors last night, when Mr G. E. l)arton addressed the electors. Ho was warmly applauded on coming forward. The Mayor (Mr Townloy) presided, and Introduced the speakor, for whom ho asked an attentive hearing. Ho had come oral late, but going to make up for that, by the energy ho would put into it. Mr Derton, who was warmly applaudod, gave thanks for the kind reoeption on tho first lime in his life that ho had appearod before suoh a large audionoe. Ho would in no way refer personally to any of the other.candidates. (Applause.) Ho had beep noininatod, inoßtly by working men, lujjhor, liberal,'and no-licease interests, Beinthed it, clearly understood ho was noi claiming thb'support of any organisation. Ho dealt first with tho labor question, whioh he said was much miaunder etood. Ho spoke in warm support of unionism, aud'iolaimed that if there had been unidfaism in Russia there would have been none of the frightful bloodshed. In this ooldny unionism had done great good, not only to employees, but to employers. At some length he argued that unionism gave a settled condition of affairs, making an insuranoe for employers and bettering the standard "of- workers, getting rid of the sweater and promoting aha fair employer from the unscrupulous one. Ho defended the labor legislation, but put In a strong plea for preferenoe to unionists, which ha said had been inserted in every award but that of tho wharf laborers. When Mr Garroll was asked whether,he would favor it he not only Said no, but added, " If I wanted your vole I would sky yes; but I say no.” Ho wont on to quote tho olause from the Gisborne paintere* itWard; it was q just olauss ana ihouTf not bo left to tho Courts, but be inoluded fa the’'Statute. People bad the erroneous impression that it made It compulsory to employ unionists. It was not a ring or monopoly, and he claimed the men had a fair and just claim* and they ahonld not be shsweredno in tho manner they had been fold. It was a just olaase that should be pul in the Statute. (Applitief.) When breaches oeoarred the unions Were just enough to bring tho oases themselves, Little breaches did. ooour, ahd he. ecmp'aiood of the delay in hearing 6aiei.;'ill waa.a duel shame for unions to

have to keep their man hanging on for long ptriods to give evidenoe, The em* ployerwas stationary, and oouia keep his npeii on if their evidenoe was required. Eton with two courts it would mean six months* delay, which was too long. His tamely lvit : tbit imoaadialoly a breaoh occur* the lebretary should notify < the Labor Depactrinent, and have witnesses oiled in 24 hours, and have the evidence taken on oath, without delay and forwarded to iheConrt, lo be then settled as soon salt oonid be dealt with.

Dealing with the land question, he said -»&s* piMe(lt : Ministry had much _to be thaokejy for foe' 'their legislation in that direction. Under the old system Canter* bnry waa l.clng gridironed, and in' John UoKabzis. was found the man to meet it. Be had seen the suffering entailed in hie own .'Obhntry; end was determined that the same condition of things should not be allowed in this young colony. The 909 years’ lease was a splendid thing for the tenants, but what was the oountry to get out of.itfc;;;Though pubiio money was greatly ihoreaaiDg tbe value of those lands, the tenant only paid his 4 per cent, He did hotladvocate the freehold—he had seen ! tool muBH of the curse of that. He referred to the different systems, and

■hawed tbafoithere were restrictions on

leaseholds, (they.. knew ten leaseholds belonged to tpn people, but ten freeholds might belong to one man.' The, ory for the freehold wad not from the leaseholder,

bnt from tbe man who wanted to get hold of the land. (Applause.) The ory was unjust'. JVooli any of them give it themselves? Take a piece* of Makaart flat, Fancy going, to Cap--*—, , going to tbe ownef aqd him to give tbe lease* botdJas?'freeholdl He knew the answer

they would would be a whistle. (Laagbter. and . a whistle;) Then • wby ! should tbe people be aeked to do, what no private landowner would think of dbiDg ? (Appf*qsei)' ‘ crime of aggregating estates was going bn, and anything that, would stop it would be a blessing, (ipplanse.) Ha.!favbred a graduated land tax that would lessen the taxation on tbe hard-working'small man and increasing it nn.'ih*:- hig man. The graduated tax should increase until the man hold-

fog 10,000 koras would find ii to his foietmllfiolH Bell,: . and .theij.man who bcaapied the.land would be the • best fthte to pay*' The "speaker went on to denoanoa the ballot system,' and ehowed how the"platm” were eagerly sought after by and tbeir many relations. He had known the farmer have

to pay as much as '£2so before be could get a seosiou from a lucky townsman who ad never, even Seen it. Ho advooated an improved system, which would enable the mui^ho'wanted - to go on the land to have'a ohanoe, and then the townsman

would drop out of the competition, If they oould give the farmer a chance to make his laad productive, each as under the Bußh and Swamp, Aot, ha would get on. He urged that that Act should apply to all bush lands of any quality. (Applsuse,) i'?#:; He warmly approved of ths Lands for Betilement Aot, which he said was being copied all over the world. In this district they had taken about 11,000 aores, which were carrying about four men and four shepherds ; now they carried 232 people. The return was not in the rent, which was hardly worth collecting; it was in the population that the country ga’ned. .One -of the'fittMt"serious oharges he bad to make was that their member bad not done more in that direction. One man, he said, bad 27,000 acres, one-sixth of tbe area in a 12-mile circuit from the post office. He krould deal with these matters in his addriMlon Monday night. Referring to the native land map, which Mr Carroll did hot like, he said that map was} identical with the official msp issued In 1905. He produced, the officialinitp from the documents issued from tbe Lands Qffloe amidst warm kpptause, Not only, he said, was there 700,000 aores of nativo lands in this distriot, but llhere were 900,000. It was nonsense to bring in .such boundaries as tbq Waiapo river. ' There had also been Imported iota: tbe argument the distortion that these laads war Ano l being used. He did'not say that. He would like to know one acre that bad been thrown open; or to koow where any native lanl was obtainable, They had had at tbe bead of the administration of native land matters one of the greatest Liberals of Poverty Bay, Jadge Jories—(applause)—and whai had happened? [Voice: Taiboat]' Yes he was quite sure if Judge Jones had been allowed to remain at the head of the

Council the question would have been settled, and settled in a manner satisfactory to the natives es well as to the Europeans. (Applause.) The natives would have had justice, and the oonntry would have had the land settled. But as 'the tbipg approached oomp etion, as tbe fruits of bis labor were about to be reached, and the whole nativo land question about to be settled, there was a taiboa. When they saw. the native land question was ;■ About to be settled, they said, "We must -have Jadge Jones out of that.” (Applause.) Tney were told the question was SetlledV‘X;H,e could not fiad a single aore, ‘let alone a block, that had been settlad. through tbe administration Hjnf the Council, He would deal ‘if rttta the objeot more fully on Monday, •'-ilnother'very import nt poiDt that had (oiOSßed UP Was the Trust Bi-ard, Every wing was called—a Trust in this d[a triol. Althdugh he bad been 16 years in Jhsimbllo servioe, be would not uso any •''euon information ; only that which the public could get by P»J iD g “ ,e °> Tho Trus* was formed because £l-56,000 was due to the Bahk of New Zealand. On another oceaaiou the. Government had saved tha Bask and the whole of. New Zealand by owning to thereeouo with £3,000,000 The Government bad not got sufficien OMdH fot.thaK .lt did no» suit the . bool for Ike Government to com* to ihe reeoui with.lias small sum of £156,000 to take Uj Ibtewi.of beknilful land. Were »hes msn mentk/Dsd on tha. previous evemn likely to out tha land, up into small areas * WslV'the proof was that they,had no ‘ done'so. Tba 'Government had out u •A their portion of Mangapoike among eigk I 'food oettlers, while the 17j000 had bee wt Of.among two n»n. Tha Xroet Boar

had disposed of 160,000 acres of land, and they could count the number of new astt'ors on one’s baud, They should all slrivo to have some of the balance saved for the small man. The spoakor went on to refer very severely to tho Trust Board, aid quoted from tho Trust Board s own report. Whon Mr Carroll was taxed with it ho said, "I can’t help it, go to tho Board; they wero appointed by the bank.” Thoy wore appointed by the Government. (Applause.) Ho quotod the Act showiDg that tho Governor-in-Ooun-oll could appoint tho thros members of the Board. Tbo Badt had no say m the matter. He did not say tho Trustee* had Dot dono their best to gel tho estates roalisod and tho money paid to tho bank. But ihoro had boon dono an injury to tho district that it_ would cost ten times tho amount to repair. Ho placed the responsibility for the appointment on Mr Carroll, and quotad from tho Board s report, in whioh Mr Carroll was specially thanked. In his next address ho would deal at longth with the outting up of thqso lands. Tho road, he said, would bo made by tho Government, and the owners of this land would get tho benefit and make subdivisions. Referring to To Araroa, ho said it was a native township, and instead of them handing the land over free they would bo making a good thing out of rents. Referring to grants, ho said Mr Carroll's admissions out a good deal of the ground away. They were not getting anything like a fair amount. Ho would by Munday night prove how muoh was provided out of loans for whioh ths settlers’ land was pledged. This district was being shamefolly treatod In tho way of grants. Ho olaimod that every oandidate should speak on tho no-license question. He claimed that licenses were a monopoly which enabled those who obtained them to jump into a fortune whioh would not be got in any other lino of business, Ho olaimed thet it was against all demooratio principles for four men to rule six. Ho claimed that the roferoadum on this or any other reform should be arrived at by a bare majority. (Applause.) He could not see why there should be suoh anxiety to let the poor working man have his beer. The poor working man who had to pay rent oould not afford it. He had resided in Clntha, and knew it better than Poverty Bay—ho knew every sly-grog shop thero. (Laughter.) Ho olaimsd that It had been muoh bettered by nos license, and that from an eoonomio standpoint the working man oould only be on one Side.

Continuing, he' pointed out that this distdot was not allowed to participate in the rebate in rents until the Farmers' Union battled for it. The member should Attend to suoh matters, and not merely introdaoe deputations to someone else. (Applause.) In conclusion, Mr Darton said he would review the Trust Board and native land question on Monday. He was very warmly applauded. A number of questions in regard to the Trust Board were answered. In reply to the No-license League’s official questions affirmative answers were. given, If lioepses were taken away by a bare majority (whioh he favored) they should be restored by a bare majority, but if taken away by three-fifths the same number should be required to restore them. The candidate made a personal explanation. He denied a report that Mr Chambers had offered him £IOO to fight the election. All the support he had received was from small amounls subscribed by working men, and the report was an insult to them—he.'emphatically denied it, A vote of thanks was acoorded the chairman on the motion of Mr B. Johnston. • * ■

MR CLAYTON AT MANGAPAPA. At Mangapapa last evening Mr Lissant Clayton continued bis political campaign, there being only a moderate attendance. Mr Malcolm McLeod presided, and in introducing the speaker, expressed regret that there was not a larger attendance, the reason being the counter attraction in town. ' ■ In his opening remarks, Mr Clayton said that his objeot that evening was to reply to the etatsmeets made by the Hon. James Carroll. In almost every utterance made by the latter at His Majesty’s Theatre on Wednesday evening he (Mr Clayton) eould contradiot him. It had been alleged against him (Mr Clayton) that he had made personal references towards Mr Carroll, but this he denied. He had not, he said, on due occasion spoken of Mr Carroll as a private individual, but in all his criticisms had referred to him as the Native Minister and sitting member for tbp district. Recently at Mangapapa Mr

Wall hadoiaimed that he was tbe Opposition candidate, and he desired to take the opportunity that evening of refuting this statement. He (Mr Clayton) was the only reargaard Opposition oandidate in Poverty Bay, being selected not only by the local Opposition party, bat by tbe Leader of the Opposition. This should ha thought be oonc'u>iv# enough for Mr Wall. (Ap-

plause.) At some length Mr Clayton dealt with Mr Carroll’s statements as to the area of native lands in the distriot 1 lying in an unproductive state, pointing out that his statements as to - the amount of lend available were quite correct, and daring the next few days he would prove them. Speaking of the Nativo Minister’s remarks in regard to the East Coa4 Trust Board, the candidate said that he quite agreed with Mr Oarroll in regard to Messrs Shrimpton and MoFarlane being incapable of any swindle or fraud, and also his remark regarding Mr Harding. (Applause,) He was quite prepared to accept Mr Carroll's statement in this matter. Continuing, Mr Clayton pointed out that from Mr Carroll’s own remarks in Hansard they would see bow shamefully the district has been treated in the matter of votes for roads and bridges. He read extracts from Hansard in support of this. Mr Carroll vaguely obarged him with foißrepresentation, but ho would like him to point out one solitary example where he had done so. He (Mr Clayton) had always been prepared lo give proofs of what he had said. He had followed that-policy out sinoe the commencement of the oampaigD, and intended to do so. (Applauee.) Ho would also show them la’er on that he had been many times misrepresented by Mr Oarroll. Despite the Native Minister’s quibbliog, he (Mr Olayton) oould still show them that Mr Carroll was not responsible for clause 16 of the Native Lands Settlement Bill. Contrasting the Manawatu railway with the'New Zsa'and Government lines, the speaker showed that the former was paying its shareholders 6 per cent on the capital invested, whilst the New Zealand linos only paid a little over 8 per cent. The Mapawatu railway had also paid for mainterliice and rolling stock out of revenue! After‘critic'siog the remarks.of the Herald at some length, Mr Clayton thus referred to Mr Carroll : “ I ask you does Mr Carroll talk politics to you ? He goes round the country and aajs nloe things tc the people ; he talks on like the rippling brook, (Laughter.) I aßk you in Kir ad-

dress on Wednesday evening how many political subjects did bo touch,upon ? He ] spoke for two hours, but beyopd referring to Native affairs and district grants, he did not give you anything.” Continuing, the candidate criticised Mr Carroll’s attitude epon the question of freehold, concluding that he was antagonists to the freehold. He asked those present to oarefully consider the figures and facts that he had placed before them, as against the statements made by Mr Carroll, and judge for themselves who was right. He- was qon vioced that right through the oolooy the public vyere qlive- to the fact that the Country bad arrived at tbe stage when there should be a parting of the ways. At the' coming election a strong attempl would be made to sooure straight Govorn ment. (Applause.) The party in powei had great power, and they were using i in a manner that he would be sorry to do Nevertheless, people were arousing and there was going to be a fight They should use their reasoning faculties , and, not be carried away by oratory; ver I bosity was not statesmanship. Everyon 1 who wanted straight government, and th 3 country property administered should vot j for the Opposition party. (Applause.) 3 In answer to questions, Mr Clayto ? explained the position be took up in regar 2 to the loc>l option, being to mafmtal t tha ersting law in its entirety and m p allowing.it to, bo upset by any technio tt irregularities. He favored amending tl q law affecting national scholarships so th d every boy who earned, one should I

entitled to the full benefits of it. Ho approvod of tbo Government making Ednoational Boards speoial grants so as to provide all sohool books froo of oharge. Ho favored tho accounts of tho colony should bo audited by tho Auditor-Gonoral. The Maoris should be left to deal with their own lands, so long as sufficient was retained for their sustenance. Tho salvation of tho Maori was hard work. Tho , native race was at prosoot dooaylng because it livod in idleness, and they required to put tho Maoris in a position that they would work. (Applause.) Ho was I in favor of paying with men I so long as they performed tho samo I eorvioes. , , Oa tho motion of Mr McLood, seconded I by Mr Brown, a hearty vote of thanks was I aooorded to Mr Clayton for biß addross. I Mr Clayton speaks at Makaari this evening. MR WALL AT HANGAROA.

A most suocoseful mooting was held by Mr H. H. Wall, tho Opposition and probibition candidate, at Hangaroa last evening. There was a large attendance. Mr D. B Watt, J.P.. presided. Tho oadidato made a very strong oritioiam of the Government polioy, and made speoial reference to tho sbamoful mannor in whioh tho East Coast district had been treated in the matter of publio expend!- , turo. Ho condemned the prosent system of dealing with native lands, and urged that no stone should be loft unturned to briDg about a better state of things bo that I the millions of acres now lying idle Bhould I be made reproductive, Mr Wall was I most attentively listened to, and ho made I a very good impression on those present. I On tho motion of Mr E. Jackson, seoonded by Mr Burgess, tho candidate I was unanimously acoorded a vote of I thanks. I The meeting was the first field at I Hangaroa at night.