MR GORDON GOATES

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 4 December 1914, Page 2

MR GORDON GOATES

_■ — «. THE GOVERNMENT CANDIDATE AT Dargaville on the 17th ult., the sitting member, Mr Gordon Coates, met with a splendid reception in the Theatre Royal, his Worship the Mayor presiding. As Mr Coates is speaking here on Thursday evening, 3rd inst., we are publishing his Dargaville speech in substitution of his Helensville one, which are substantially similar, because, having altered the date of our publication, the same would not fit in, the elections being booked for Thursday, 18th. Mr Coates said he knew that he had been called a turncoat for having voted against the Mackenzie Ministry. In reply to this charge he read his published platform of three years ago, and left his audience to judge whether he did rightly. The first section of that was the Freehold Tenure and the second the settlement of Native Lands. He referred back to February 1912, when Sir Joseph Ward won on a vote of confidence on the casting vote of the Speaker. On that occasion, in accordance with the time limit he had set within which the Government was to bring about the two chief aims of his policy, he had voted with the then Government. When the Mackenzie Government came into office and was confronted with a similar motion he had cast his vote against them. He explained that he had voted that way because in the Governor's speech he could not find any provision for the furtherance of the Freehold Tenure or the Settlement of Native Land principles. Mr Coates was also pledged to the formation of a Civil Service Board, and also the provision of means whereby gumdiggers could acquire homes for themselves. These were all definite questions and the Mackenzie Government would not support them. Consequently he voted against them in accordance with his pledges. Next was given a clear answer to the charge that the Reform Government did not hold office on the voice of the majority. The returns for the first ballot showed that the Massey Party polled 128,251 votes ; the Wardites, 104,350; the Independants, 16,838; and Labour, 13,700. That gave Mr Massey 26,000 votes over Sir Joseph Ward at the first ballot, and even if every single vote of the Independants and Labourites were given to the Wardites, Mr Massey would then have been only 4000 votes behind — and out of a total of 30,000, it. could be safely guaranteed that Reform claimed more than 4,000. Figures have been made to submit that the abolition of the Second Ballot favoured the Massey Party, but as a matter of fact, the results from the thirty second ballots necessary at the elections showed that Sir Joseph Ward was one seat worse off at the first ballot than after the second. Proportional representation Mr Coates denounced as it would entail a sacrifice of the interests of country electors, who, at present, owing to Mr Seddon's foresight, have a 28 per cent better representation than the cities. Unless a true proportional scheme, providing the necessary quota, were brought down he would vote against it. . He also wished his audience clearly to understand that he would not support the Upper House Reform Bill again unless tfyis quota were included. Referring to finances, the leader of the Opposition's speech on June 30, 1914, was quoted, declaring that the Reformers were borrowing too heavily, the figures being £1,485,000. This had provided increases in the salaries of Railway servants, Post Office officials, School teachers and the Civil Service generally. Mr Coates pointed out that Government.had not sacked a man, but had kept the Public Works going, ai|d, thanks to Mr Allen's 'finance, 1 it would be possible now to go on' for two years as at present, without feeling the effect o.f the war more1 than now. > The Government had been charged with increasing taxation and the inference was that the wages earner aud those least* able to pay them had had the taxes saddled on to them. The tax which bears chiefly on the worker is the Customs tax, and Mr Coates defied his audience to show where this had, been increase.4 on any one 'arjkjc/ie of the necessaries, qf life. Mr Coates also" dealt with the Huntly disaster, the Graduated Land Tax question, the check occasioned by the M^aori epidemic to native land settlement, the unpleasant strike tragedy, and many other vital questions of the day. 'On his own representation, Mr Coates said he had the wages of

railway workers in the North Island raised from 10s to 11s a day, and the Public Works Board as a means to abolish the rotten £ system of doling out grants to ■ I Local Bodies for roading and other purposes, the furtherance — ~ of the Fruit Industry, the cxi tension of Re-afforestation, and - many other similar planks [. in the Reform platform were - outlined. As is generally accepted, the c Lands for Settlement acquired by ~ the Reform Government have c increased out of all comparison s with the figures of the Ward ;J *' >- Administration, this being largely - due to the new method of utilisr ing all moneys from Government >t sales for the sole purpose of d acquiring more to be similarly l s dealt with. n With regard to loans, in his ' d last 21$ years Sir Joseph Ward r. had borrowed £10,031,000, wjhile d the present Government in its c first 214 years had borrowed n, A c £9,078,000, or £953,000 less than : m r. their predecessors, while Reform jfl c had spent considerably more on d Public Works than had. Sir 3. Joseph Ward's Ministry. y The speaker had been amongst n those who voted for the appointe ment of Mr Hiley, and he deq clared that the Government did h the only and proper thing in n importing him at the present* o time. wti >f At some length the soundness c of the freehold principle was cxc pounded, as also were the pro- ~ c visions which Government had d made to foster the Gum Industry. d which in the past has been c neglected, and which ultimately t can have but one end — the s nationalisation of the trade. y Special reference was also made if to the provisions for tiding the c industry over the war-time, d Local industries were being o well looked after and fostered, a and Mr Coates expressed his c whole-hearted support of the l- Local Railways Bill. The State r should build railways if it has. II the money to do so, but there has ■- been too much delay, and he did it not see why settlers should not c be allowed to borrow and to build c local lines to tap the main routes, provided that they were properly r and uniformly constructed and a -could be taken over by Governe ment. As an outcome of Professor t Prince's report, Government proy posed to make advances to fisheri- men to buy their boats and nets, ;, and also to pay a bounty on fish. ). Drying and smoking plants and 0 canning factories will be set up t and every endeavour made to put V the latent industry on the footing s at which Professor Prince con--0 siders it should be — worth— j* d £1,500,000 per annum in four or- -, to^ 3 five years time. The present' 1 municipal fishmarkets were, as y Professor Prince said, a disgrace d to the country. At the conclusion, after reply- v 3 iug to a number of/ questions,l^ c Mr Walsh moved and Mr Wright b seconded that a vote of thanks r and confidence in Mr Coates be r accorded. This was carried on 3 the voices.—[Abridged from Ex- ■ l changes.] f ——— ___.