GOVERNMENT CRITICISED

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4500, 6 December 1922, Page 2

GOVERNMENT CRITICISED

(Extended Report by Arrangement).

MR POLAND AT PAEROA. There was a fair attendance at the Central. Theatre last evening to hear Mr Poland, the Independent Liberal and sitting member for this district, lay his planks finally befoi'3 the electors. His Worship the Mayor, Mr P. E. Brenan, presided. Mr Poland, who was received with applause on rising, fearlessly and strongly criticised the Government on its administration during the last three years. He said the Government had promised to reduce taxation, it. had not been done ; neither ihad borrowing been reduced. Income taxation had been increased to the enormous amount of 8/9 in the £, and the cost of carrying dairy produce on the railways had increased by 156 per cent, since 1914, and absolutely no effort had been jnadc to reduce this load borne by the farming community, and in consequence of heavy taxation dozens of farmers had been forced io walk off their farms, bankrupt. The meat producers, said the speaker, were all backed by the “big men” of the country, and had already received a reduction of 30' per cent, on railways because they were supported by prominent Reform members, whereas the dairy farmers were only regarded as “ small men,” and were overlooked by the Government. The speaker contended that the dairy farmers had been taxed to enable the Government to carry on, and to allow them to spend millions recklessly and extravagantly with the result that the Whole of New Zealand was struggling under a burden of taxation too great for. the country to bear. The Government had lately begun to realise this fact, and commenced to economise by cutting down the salaries of civil servants — a most discreditable action on the Government’s part to so increase the cost of Government that sudh a step should want, a reduction in civil servants’ salaries'. In 1911 the Reform Party condemned the system of electing members to the Upper House. Mr Massey said that if he was returned lie would pass a Bill to alter matters, but. the Reform Government had never done so, and the same system of election to the Upper House was in vogue to-day. The speaker said that Mr Massey had pledged himself that the old system would be done away with, for roads and bridges. This had not been done. Pressure was brought to bear on the Government to do away with the political influence that was shown in appointing and promoting civil, servants, and Mr Massey had promised to do away with the scheme, but again practically nothing had been done, although a Civil Servants' Board had been appointed to go into the whole matter, but its findings did not meet with the success; they should have, because larger influences were too strong. The Government had pledged itself to bring down Bills to make adequate provisions for invalids, cripples, and the blind. These Bills were mentioned in 1911, and again in 1914, but no reforms had as yet been carried out. The State Advances Act had certainly been amended this year, making it possible to borrow up to £5OO on chattel security. Little or nothing had been done towards' amending the Pension Act, or other Acts, and the candidate said he knew of on reforms or any great laws that had been brought down by the Government for the betterment of t,his country. The Government’s cry seemed to be to “keep on carrying on.” The speaker proceeded to contradict a statement made by Mr S. S. Allen, the Reform candidate, as to the Government having granted a sum of £2OOO to the Rising Sun Gold Mining Co., and quoted official information to show that the £2OOO hpd not been granted to the mining company by the Government, but was merely a loan. He also quoted figures shpwing the revenue derived from this goldmining district, and the apathy and lack of interest displayed by the Government in assisting mining matters generally, as evidenced by the small amount of money spent..

PAEROAPOKENO RAILWAY. Touching on the question of the construction of this line the speaker said he had heard it advocated that it would be more effective if the railway scheme was abandoned and the Government concentrated its energies in providing a good road. The speaker said he contended that this line was’ the most important part, of the whole of the East Coast railway, as it would bring Paeroa 44 miles nearer to Auckland and be cheaper than by going round by Frankton, as at present. He asked the people and local bodies of the district to urge the Government to push on with the construction work of this line, and pointed out that although £5OOO had' been placed on the Estimates two years ago for expenditure on this line none of the amount had yet been spent by the Government. When this line was put through to Paeroa it would tap one of the best gravel and stbne quarries in New Zealand, thereby providing ample metal from this quarry near Waita.karuru to supply the local bodies for use on the roads, and he advised the people of this district to agitate and show the Government that they were in earnest and' meant to have the construction of the line pushed on at once.

WAIHOU RIVER. Dealing with the matter of navigation, the speaker said that to tolerate the way the Government was carrying on this work was out of the question. It was now oveh eleven years since the work on this river had been taken in hand, and even yet very little real benefit had been accomplished, although. some £350,000 of borrowed money had been spent. The Commission which sat in 1910 had recommended the expenditure of £150',000. This was spent, and nothing was done in the way of improvements to the river. Then a further £150,000 was borrowed by the Government, and s'ill another £150,000, and to-day the Government could show little, if any, permanent value for the money spent. He said the Commission which sat in Paeroa in 1919 had dealt fully with the question of navigation.

and he quoted an extract from the report of that Commission dealing witn the matter which stated, inter alia, that, navigation... and drainage were absolutely necessary and of vital importance to the settler's of the district. He said that since th’e Government had commenced work on the river navigation had been deliberately blocked, and the people had been forced down the river away from Paeroa, and the Government was now striving to make them use the Government wharf at Ngahina, which would necessitate the payment of wharfage dues on all cargo. Such dues were not payable while the people of the district had their own wharf;, and yet the Government and Public Works Department had repeatedly refused to accede to the requests of deputations to improve the river for navigation purposes. He said it appeared to be the Government's policy to ignore the wants and wishes of tii'e people. The Commisision of 1910 had recommended to the Government that two dredges, each with a. capacity to move 500 tops of spoil an hour, be placed on the river, but the Government had not yet done this, and the river was in a worse state now than it ever was. The 1.919 Commission had recommended the discontinuance of building certain stop-banks owing to the enormous cost of the work, but the Government had taken no notice of the commission’s recommendations. He urged the people of this district tp be alive to their wants and needs or a Bill would probably be, brought down providing for, taxation which would be a burden to jnan for the next 70 years.' An attempt had been made by the Government to get' a clause through to give effect to the recommendations of the commission doubling the Ma- 1 bility of the settlers, but the speaker had blocked this attempt. The candidate said that in a portion of the country between the Waihou and Piakp rivers the settlers would have to find about £3300 per annum for about 75 years, while the total rates received by 'the county was under £3OOO per annum at present. Explaining the tremendous’ costbf the work, he said it would be necessary for the counties and borough councils concerned to find about £lO,000 a year in the future if the Government went on as it proposed, and, naturally, to find this large sum of money enormously increased rates would be inevitable. The speaker contended that the.river should, be regarded as a national highway, and the cost of the work should be borne proportionately by the people of New Zealand, and not by the residents of this district. The speaker urged the electors to take immediate action and bring pressure to bear on the Government. A cla,use had already been inserted in a Bill to double the contributions to the Government to carry on the work, but fortunately this clause was seen in time and objected to, and when the Minister for Public Works Was questioned about it he had denied having any knowledge of it. WAR PENSIONS. As regards' war pensions the candidate said lie considered that the Government had not fulfilled their promises to the soldiers, and to-day the soldiers' pensions were totally inadequate. The Prime Minister had stated that they would be increased by Cabinet, but that was only bluff on the Government’s part, as the aniounts could only be increased by Parliament. The speaker contended that the administration of pensions' had never been satisfactorily carried out, and bore this out by mentioning that after three years’ delay a commission had sat in connection with pensions, but the findings and recommendations of this commission had not yet been published, because the Government would not care to face the increases asked for prior to the elections. He said the Auckland Claims Board and Returned Soldiers’ Association were frequently asking for soldiers’ pensions to be increased. Tlie speaker said that the representatives of the people must criticise the Government for its administration, and said it was no us'e being content to be merely “camp followers.” Criticism was necessary until the time came when the Government was capable of working on better lines.

EDUCATION. Mr Poland said that during his tour through the electorate he had been astounded at the conditions in many districts, and particularly at ope of the schools, although the Government was spending about 3% millions' on education per annum as compared with 1% millions a few years ago. The speaker assured the gathering that he did not for one moment grudge the expenditure of such money on education, provided the country was getting some benefit from it, but Mr Poland said he considered that things in this Department were not what they should be, and quoted an instance where there were 39 children receiving instruction in one room, 17 of whom were Maoris, and the classes ranged from the primers to standard 6, and the sole teacher was uncertificated, and had no teacher’s qualification to do the work. The candidate said that matters were, on a better footing in similar schools over 30 years ago. At the present time millions were being spent on education, yet there were ip this electorate in several districts no teacher’s residences provided, and it was 1 impossible to get money from the Government, notwithstanding the large amount being spent, and consequently the people of this country were not getting anything like the benefits they should be, especially in primary education.

MATERNITY HOMES. Mr Poland said he was strongly in favour of maternity 'homes in every centre, and showed how in 1905 Mr Seddon had started the St. Helen’s Homes, and the present Government had done practically nothing further in the matter. The candidate said he would like to see more of; such .homes and an ample number of qualified nurses' for the back-blocks districts. The slaves of to-day were the mothers of to-morrow, he continued, and the Government was certainly not doing what it should, to encourage larger families or to lighten

the loads of the poorer parents. Helen’s Homes, eyen, were not free .. to the public unless it could be proved that a person was eligible for charitable aid. The Government had said that in a family children under 16 years would be exempted to the extent of £5O income tax, but as 1 no income tax was paid unless the amount was £3OO oi: over the Government was jus: assisting the people .who did not so urgently need the help that should be accorded tp small wage earners struggling to bring up a family of six or eight children. These people should be assisted, and there should be more free maternity homes and a greater number of qualified nurses for the back-block districts. (Applause.) Also the settlers who were pioneering in the back country should be given assistance by Governmentwhen they travelled; it wpuld be little enough for the Government to allow their; children to travel free on. the railways up to 12. years. The Government are continually talking of increased assistance to all and sundry, but, the candidate said, nothing tangible had really been done by the Reform Government, and it was results that counted with the people. Mr Poland then briefly explained the main planks in his platform, and especially stressed the abolition of taxation on the necessities of lite, scheme of pensions for. invalids, the blind and sick, and full payment of injured workmen whilst incapacitated. . In conclusion he reminded the electors that, he had lived nearly 29 years in Paeroa, and he was firm in his belief that the electors realise he 'had done his level best fpr the electorate in every way and on every occasion, and he would like to point out he

had never distinguished between supporter and opponent, apd he said he never would. (Applause). He considered people were entitled to their opinions, and he thought they should be exercised to the best interests af the country, and the party or personal element should not he considered at all. However, the candidate said, he was well content tp leave matters to the judgment of the electors, and he had no fears or doubts as to the result. Mr Poland resumed his seat to the accompaniment of prolonged applause. A number pfi questions; were submitted to the candidate by Messrs Towers, Silcock, and Edwards, and each of these were satisfactorily answered in detail. Mr Somervell proposed a vote of thanks tp the candidate for his interesting and fearless address and also for the valuable services rendered to the electorate during the past three years’, apd reassured Mr Poland of the confidence the electors h.ad in hint as their representative. In seconding the resolution Mr Silcock said the electors .were very appreciative of .the work done by Mr Poland in the .matter of navigation of the Waihoii River,. The resolution was carried with acclamation, as also was a vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding.