THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 359, 13 May 1911, Page 3

THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN

MR, JAMES ALLEN, M.P., AT TAUMARUNUI. A public meeting of the residents of Taumarunui was held on Wednesday night in the Public Hail, to listen to an address from Mr James Allen. M.P., one of the leading members ol the Opposition Party in the Iloust of Representatives. There was h moderate attendance. The Mayor ol Taumarunui, Mr J. B. Thompson, presided, and briefly introduced the speaker. Mr Allen expressed the great pleasure it gave him to meet those present. He had come to put before them the point of view of the Opposition. He had been a member for over twenty .years, and knew something which he hoped to pass on to his hearers. Opposition members were under disadvantages in that they had no travelling expenses and no large salaries, like members of the Ministry. A Government member could make promises to put bridge and road votes on the estimates, and such promises were meant to influence the electors. He knew they did so. If they wanted to grow up a strong nation, with right ideas and ideals they must be strong enough to resist that kind of thing. He knew they had their necessities, and how much it meant to them, but he asked them to resist such methods. The Ministry of to-day was practically one long continuous Ministry. It had had twenty years of office. A great deal had been done, of necessity, the last twenty years, but they would have had it from the Opposition had they been in office as much as from the Government. After 1887 to IS9O, when the country bad drifted into a policy of non-self-reliance, a halt had tu be called, and later this Government came in with its extravagance and luxuries. The Opposition stood for a policy of self-reliance. Borrowing was necessary for roads and raihvays, but expenditure must be kept within reasonable bounds. The people had a right to demand that the will of Parliament should be respected,but a system of disrespect had been gradually growing up, as witness the Midland railway tunnel expenditure of £750,000, which did imt come before Parliament; the £2,000,000 Dreadnought loan, which was entered into without asking a single member of Parliament; and the methods of the Premier, in discussing a proposed Imperial Parliament with the people of Sydney, when none in New Zealand harl been consulted. The abuse of indecision was another grave matter. It was a Ministry that was without backbone; that changed its mind when it felt public opinion was not with it. Take the Land Bill, the Licensing Bill, the Knyvett case. It was a fatal thing when those in power were a Ministry of indecision. Twenty years in office yes, but what an opportunity. What had they done? What might they have done? If Mr Massey had been in office, legislation would have been more forward and more progressive. No one knew what the collective mind of the Min- j istry was on the land question. They , knew what Mr Fowlds' views were— ] to take the full rental value in taxes, j The Government had become so ex- ! travagant that it could not find money : for land for settlement, and it said j "Leave it for someone else to find. ; Let Massey find it when he comes into office." Clause IS of that last \ year's Bill was a particularly iniquitous one, making a man who leased \ land, in excess of 2500 acres, liable . to five years' imprisonment if he did so. The Opposition came to the ; country with a clear-cut opinion on ; the land question. The optional tenue, limited areas and leases with the opportunity of acquiring the freehold. Say they had sixty million acres of land in New Zealand. If they settled every acre it only meant 300,000 settlers, giving 200 acres to each. What difference did it make if they were leaseholders or freeholders? There was only room for a certain number. The Opposition would prevent the aggregation_ of large estates, but included the optional tenure. Land settled in small areas made for the stability of the country. The Opposition would do their best to relieve settlers of the disabilities they suffered in connection with Native land settlement. He did not think it fair that Europeans who had land were liable to have it taken away if they failed to pay taxes, while Natives owning land were not paying taxes, not using the land, and allowing noxious weeds to grow or, it. If Natives were not placed under the same restrictions as Europeans, the land should be sold or leased to Europeans. Much of the country he had passed through on his journey from Frankton to Taumarunui required such work to be done. If Messrs Massey and Herries had been given the opportunity they would have come nearer to a settlement of the Native land question than the present Government. The Natives should pay taxes, and find a portion of the road money and land for settlement. Referring to Mr J. Millar's Dunedin speech the previous night, Mr Alien said that the £BOO,OOO surplus transferred to the Publi'c Works Department was not a legitimate surplus, in the sense that the taxation levied had not been expended on the objects for which it was raised. Take the interest on the Dreadnought loan, the extensive cost of defence and the superannuation funds. Less than £IOO,OOO had been expended on these objects in the course of the year, leaving a very large surplus for the year. Mr Allen then dealt with the Death Duties Act, saying there had been need for reform, but not that kind of reform. It was quite right to encourage parents to distribute their wealth to their children when grown up, but not right to penalise small estates and to collar ten per cent out of them when transferred at death to friends. The Prime Minister had told the country that he could reduce the expenditure £250,000 a year without impairing the efficiency of the departments. Put in other words, that meant they had

I been paying a quarter of a million a I >'ear for services not required. Were they going to allow this to go on, I ,vith interest, expenses and sinking c'unds increasing year by year. Parliament had voted for public works I marly three millions of money. The j elegraphed report of Mr Millar's > peeeh caid the expenditure had been mder two millions. He L-poke under ?serve, but asked, if it was so, where ,-as the will of Parliamer/t? It had men ignored. Mr Allen referred to che seven-year appointments of membjrs to the Upper House, which meant that many members had no will of -.heir own, but only that of the Minister who nominated them, and said they had no right to uphold such a system. They had bean accused of doing nothing to help to put legislaI tion on the Statute Book, but there ! was no legislation in the interests of j che country on the Statute Book the j Opposition would repeal. The Public j Revenue Act, giving power to a Mmj :ster to transfer one vote to another j was, however, objectionable, and | over-rode the will of the people. The Opposition had given in constructive legislation the basis of the educational system, and the party had supported workers' homes, the Land for Settlement Bill, Old Age Pensions, the I National Annuities Act, and the DeI fence Act. Mr Allen, as one of those j prominently associate:! with the pass- | ing of the last named Act spoke in ! eulogistic terms of military training j to the young men of the community, j which would enable them to stand i side by side with their brothers in England, Australia or South Africa, should occasion arise. The chord of sympathy had been improperly pulled in connection with the "Black pamphlet" and efforts made to induce, men to exercise, their votes. There was no truth in Mr T. E. Taylor's allegation that the. Opposition party had had anything to do with the pamphlet. Concluding, Mr Alien said he would have liked to visit the district and learned what their difficulties and troubles were. The Opposition was not merely seeking office. It had been offered Mr Massey years ago. They were honestly trying to reform I the methods of government and legisj lation. They offered the working I man no false promises. Equality of | opportunity, educational facilities, and the chance to grow up healthy and strong, and if they gave him that he was prepared to work in the best possible way. He had faith in the Anglo-Saxon race, and they might make this one of the finest countries on earth. If the opportunity was seized, they were in a position to make a nation to be proud of. Might the day come when New Zealand was able to take her part in the Parliament of Empire. A hearty vote of thanks for his able address and one to the Mayor for presiding, concluded the gathering.