SIR JOSEPH WARD.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16486, 27 February 1914, Page 11

SIR JOSEPH WARD.

POLITICAL ADDRESS AT DUNEDIN. [Per Press .Association.") & "DUNEDIN, February 26,

Sir Joseph Ward gave a political address in tho Garrison Hall to-night before a very large audience. Sir Joseph, who was received with cheers, opened his speech by referring to the question of Press criticism. He said there were two sides to every question. He would not be surprised 'to find himself, figuratively, sneaking, torn to pieces by criticism in tho morning’s Press, but they would remember that this criticism represented the opinion 1 of blit one man. “ Tho ?latforip .was stronger than the •ress..’’.. Why was it stronger? , Not beca use* of the hi an who was speaking to the multitude, but because the great Ijhajority .of the multitude were thinking people. _ The Press Association was not giving him the publicity it' should have given, while taking every notice of what Mr Massey and other Ministers stated in public. GOVERNMENT’S SEARCH FOR A POLICY.

It was marvellous what a great interest the Conservative Press took in Opposition members. They wanted to' know their policy. The present Government never gave the people a shred of a policy before the last general election. Now they wanted the Opposition, through its leader, to give them a policy for the Government to steal—(applause)—as they had stolen it before. (Applause.) Referring to newspaper criticism, Sir Joseph; said-.he had not . given any details of a land policy. He asserted that he had always been on the side of breaking up the large landed estates in this country. . MINISTERS AND DEFENCE.

As a public man. he must allude to the matter of the Government’s naval policy. . In his humble judgment, if such a .policy were carried it meant disaster to the future of. the country, I (Applause.) ■ What were they depend- j ent upon ? They were dependent upon | the maintenance of the protection of ; England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, 1 Because so long as they were part of , a great Empire they had the disabili? j ties of that connection as well as its advantages. What advantage would it be to tne people of New Zealand if. by any mischance tho British Navy werp to go down in a battle and some foreign rower were to take possession of the British. Isles. The speaker then ' quoted figures to show the cost of the Australian Navy and what New Zea-; land would, have to shoulder for its navy. He said he was fully convinced that the dominion ought to have an effective system of internal defence—(applause)—but under, the proposals of the present Government this young country would 1 next year be paying about a million sterling per annum, j and in four years from now it would be paying £1,600,000 per .annum, and i it would then only be on the verge of what the present proposals would lead to. While he believed in a national system of internal defence being provided, he was apprehensive of what was taking place in connection with naval and land defence at present. He was'afraid it would cause a revulsion of feeling against that which he arid ■othersvwished to see'carried out, ' a feeling that would in time do an; immense amount of harm. .-He also'dcv sired to say that he was against the imprisonment of these young fellows who were being fined under • tho in- , ternal defence systerii. (Applause.) .: A Voice: Why didn't you provido , against it? Sir Joseph replied that it was never 1 contemplated that under tho civil law the course which could be legally car- . ried out would.be given effect to. He * was glad to say that the Minister of Defence had stated recently that he woukl carry out something of the kind. He was .strongly against expeditionary forces to , any other . portion of the Empire unless by voluntary act. (Applause.) •; THE GIFT DREADNOUGHT. He . supposed a few. of them, had heard the Dreadnought. ' (Loud laughtefc nnd ,applause.);: He spoke- of , the attlacks riiaae on Biiri regarding the gift!' He- said dio had placed the cost' of the battleship upon the banks, increase of death duties and on racing, and., quoted the _ remarks cf Captain Halsey oh the gift, that the presentation of this ship had been effectual in preserving the neace of the world. (Applause, and “Oil!”) . TAXATION, With regard t<y increased taxation, the .Government had put a tax upon the business people of New Zealand, particularly last session, in the nature of a 'tax on industries. They also pro- ', ?oscd an increase in the graduated land ax. What a delusion and what a i fallacy! Tho Government then readjusted, the estimate . upon .which land should be valued, whien protected the lgrge land-holders. .. All th’is talk about increased graduated tax upon lands, taken in conjunction, with the alteration of land values, simply meant that the question of graduated tax upon lands had not been touched since- it last was dealt * with by the Liberal Government'. Sir Joseph admitted that he had inadvertently made a mistake in the figures he quoted at Wiuton when speaking on the taxation per. head of population, but . after correcting the figures he stated that it- did not affect the question in the slightest, degree. The Massey Government had, stated that it had reduced Customs duties and the cost of living. The,point of interest to the workers was that the Government had not only done nothing of the kind but had increased the cost ■ of living. MAJORITY RULE. Sir Joseph then criticised the action of ,the Government in not bringing .down some other voting arrangement in place"; of ; the second ballot. Let them have a system by which the majority Could decide, he said. (Loud applause.) C * : THE STRIKE. Referring to the strike, Sir Joseph ■aid that it was, is and will be a very regrettable thing for the country. It had been circulated in his dis-. trict that he had been responsible for it. He, however, had no knowledge. .of the .strike before it fook place. He did his utmost from the start to try to prevent the strike going on and to try to effect a settlement long before 1 it- spread to- other unions and before, it reached the inflammatory state which it did in Wellington. He quite agreed that if •topes were thrown the special conifcaoies were entitled to use their batons in self-defence. Ho brought up this matter in tho House, however, because he had been informed that when tbe| specials galloped hack they did so not through the strikers but through Woihen and children. What was the result of bis protest? . Such a thing never happened again. He - quoted to show exactly what he bad said in the House in regard to the ■pe'cials incident in front of the Rost Office at Wellington. He wanted to know ;if ' reputable-citizens brought matters before him-and’told him that at number,Of men, women and children Upon the" public street were galloped towards oi>. through , by a, number of men did they mean to say that he was to h ave it rammed down his throat thrit he was to remain gagged and a coward? (Applause.) fr Let him say that men had every right to strike if they wished. He, however, had always been against ■trikes and believed they were a most Undesirable way of effectively settling

disputes. His party had not embarrassed tho Government when dealing with the strike. Mr Massey, himself, had said he had not been embarrassed by the Liberal Party.

i _ Touching on tho question of arbitration, he said , that when the Liberal Party was standing out for arbitration it was opposed by members of tho present Government, but to-day the Government was the bosom friend of arbitration. THE FARMERS. It had been said that ho had lost the sympathy of the farmers. What was the position? He had been in the North a week or two ago and the farmers there without any arrangement had carried out an entertainment and presented him with an address. The same thing had happened at Winton, where he. had had a very fine large meeting, the majority of those present being farmers. They were just as loyal and enthusiastic as they ever were. Reverting to tho strike he said that tho largo farmers had lost nothing by the strike. They were not shipping wool or frozen meat until after the strike was over. It was the small farmers who had suffered the greater burden. THE PUBLIC SERVICES. In this country at the present time a great many men were being put out jof the railway. Why? Because the : finances were not in a satisfactory state. The ratio of expenditure to re- | venue would bo the highest the coun- . try ever had seen and the highest any Australasian State had ever seen. In the administration of the Railway Department it was absolutely necessary when alterations were made to see that a larger revenue was being brought in." He for one, was strongly opposed to the giving' up by the people, of the governing of all departments of the country to-day. The whole of the public service, with the exception of the Polico and Defence Departments was beyond the control of the people through their Parliamentary representatives. There was great discontent permeat- : ing the public service at the present j time. He was against the idea of importing a manager from another country to I run the railways, the plum .of the service. There were men in the ser--1 vice who had. worked in it for forty years and studied to make themselves efficient. y LOANS. Sir Joseph said they must admit that the Liberal Party with the Labour Party had done more than any Parliar ‘ ment in any other part of the world. He recognised that if they were to move. forward they would have a system in operation in the dominion which would lend itself to closer settlement of the land. He was on the side of the agriculturist and the worker despite tho fact that _ those who were bitterly opposed to him were declaring , he was not on-the side of tho worker. ! Speaking of the Inst loan ho said it was in the nature of a recommenda- ! tion given to him +>y his .opponents, who in the House, on the platform and in the Conservative Press had taken an opposite view in their criticism and had disputed the claim of tlio then government that over a number of .years it bad a surplus at the end of each year, and that it had paid upwards of eight millions from ordinary revenue to , the Public Works Fund. ■ This was what the present Government’ said when ,it was floating its three and, a half million loan in London:—“lt should be noted that the above amounts represent the net surplus revenue. The . sum of £9,280,000 has been transferred to tho Public Works Fund since 1891 i and used for the purpose of opening up and improving the public estate. Much of this, money _is earning over 4 per cent and constitutes clear profit.” i Sir Joseph also dealt with tho ques- * tion' of Irian renewals. TJjiC countty, he said, had in proportion to,its indebtedness, less money to renew when his Government wont out of office than had the Commonwealth of Australia, Queensland, or New South. Wales. 1... Sir Joseph, who spoke for two hours, 1 concluded amidst loud applause. | MOTION OF APPRECIATION.

i Tho following resolution was passed , with cheers, only a few hands being held up against 15:—“ That this meeting thanks Sir Joseph Ward for his able and statesmanlike address, it desires to convey to him its high appreciation of the great public services* he has rendered to the dominion, and assured him of its hearty good wishes , for his future success and that of his party.”