POLITICAL

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1070, 16 November 1911, Page 3

POLITICAL

MR BYRON BROWN AT FOXTON.

There was au attendance otover 500 people, including a large proportion ol ladies, at the Coronation Hall on Tuesday evening, to hear Mr Byron Brown, the “unofficial” Opposition candidate, deliver his second audress of tnc present campaign to the Foxton electors. His Worship the Maym (Mr G. H. Stiles) presided. Mr Brown was warmly received. He said the present one made his 29th address during the present campaign, and at none ot those meetings had he met with any hostility whatever. He prelaced his address by a short history ot the electorate, which 20 years ago was represented by an Oppositionist, iu the person of Mr J. O. Wilson. Mr Wilson had no great love for the turmoil ot politics and when things commenced to get ‘‘warm” retired. Then the Opposition Party put forward Dr. Newman, but the Government candidate iguomiuionsly “licked” him. ihe following election the Opposition banner was carried by Mr C. B. Morrison who, however, received as big a licking as Dr. Newman had. Mr Morrison was not satisfied and made another attempt to gain the seat for his Party at the following election and was again badly beaten. At the next pollnine years ago—the Opposition had so despaired ot ever being able to gain the seat that they would not put forward a candidate, and the Government supporter had a ‘‘walk over.” This condition of things, the speaker, said was not a healthy one. Six years ago the Opposition were again going to give the Government candidate a “walk over,” aud so he (Mr Brown) decided to contest the seat. Mr Brown said that ever since he was 18 vears of age he had an ambition to gel into Parliament, aud resolved that if the opportunity occurred tor him to contest a seat, and he was uot dependent on the beastly, abominable ,£3OO a ycai. :i>- .. . ido so. He took advantage 01 that opportunity six years ago aud was as iguoinmiously licked as Di. Newman and Mr Morrison. However, he was a glutton for lickings aud at last election again came forward and got within 83 votes of his opponent. Mr Brown said that if he had had time to deliver one more address ac Levin on that occasion he would have wou the seat aud would uow be their member, aud the electors would have been so well pleased with his energy aud ability that there wouldn’t have been a mau game enough to fight this election with him. (Applause). Notwithstanding what ue had done in the past the Opposition had on this occasion seen lit to throw him over lor another gentleman. He couteuded that no oue had a better right to contest tue seat than he had. He had kept the Opposition flag iiyiug for six years aud Ue intended to keep it flying aud he said uo mau had a better chance of winning the seat than the “unofficial” Opposition candidate. Mr Brown went on to reter to a statement being circulated by “a

miserable, wizened-up little cus in leggings” to the elfect that he (the speaker) would not get any votes in Olaki. He said this statement was absolutely false and that in Otaki he would poll two votes to every one polled by any other candidate. He had lived there for 20 years and the people knew him and would support him. If his prophesy did not turn out right he would never show his nose in Foxlon again. At the last election ne ne.u the Government candidate in Uiair.l, and that was the first occasion that Otaki had ever given a majority for the Opposition, so the next time that “wizen dryed-up little eus in leggings’’ comes you will know how to receive him. Mr Brown said lor the past eighteen years he had been engaged in the occupation ol storekeeper and could therefore claim to be a business man. There was never more need for keen business men in Parliament than there was at the present tune. i'o prove this one had only to look at Sir Joseph Ward’s latest Budget, which was full of inaccuracies. There was .need for business men in Parliament and his services were at the disposal of the electors. He had now retired irom business, and it elected would devote the whole ot his time to his Parliamentary duties. The professional poltieian only came round the electorate once every three years—when he asked for a renewal of the people’s confidence and incidentally, an order on ihc Treasury lor his honorarium of ,£3OO a year, but it he were elected the electors would see him Hotting through .the electorate at all tunes, lie was not out after the ,£3OO a year, and if there was 110 pay attached to the position he would still be a candidate. He was in favour of reducing the amount paid to members to ,£l5O a year, lie would not favour abolishing payment altogether because if that were done it would mean that Jdahonr candidates would not be able to come lorward. ,£ls° a year was ample pay for the w r orx, and by reducing it to this amount it would be found that the professional politicians —oi which there were so many in this country —would be clearing out as the pay would not be sufficient for them. Dealing with legislation and administration, Mr Brown said that the legislation of the present Government had on the wlmle been good, and some ol 11 was deserving of the everlasting credit of the people of New Zealand, if he were dictator 10-morrow there was very little that be would repeal. When they tu tlie

administration, however, it was a different matter. They had an ( Act on the Statute Book entitled | “ The Native Land Purchase and ; Acquisition Act,” one of the provisions nt which was to prevent the aggregation of lands into the hands of lew. But notwithstanding this, aggregation still goes on. One of the provisions of the Act is that no pakeha shall purchase Irmn a Native more than 400 acres of first-class land, 2000 acres of second-class or 3000 acres of thirdciass land. But what did we find with the administration of this Act. The Mokan case showed that one man, Hermann Lewis, had had the titles passed by the Native Land Board of 53000 acres at ids 4>sd per acre. This was done notwithstanding the provision of the Act, and showed the corrupt state of the present Government. The speaker said that Sir James Carroll knew something about it, but it had recentlycost him ,£IOOO for saying things, and therefore he wouldn’t say what he had in his mind about Sir James Carroll. This man Lewis made a clear profit ol ,£35000 by selling the land to a syndicate, which had its headquarters at Palmerston North, and this syndicate could now go on and exploit the people of New Zealand. The land is first-class laud and the syndicate will cut it up and sell it. If New Zealand had had a democratic Government it would have beeu found that the Government would have refused to sanction the sale of the land, but would have acquired it and handed it over to the workers of the Dominion at a small profit. New Zealand had got good legislation but rotten administration, and that was w r hy he w T as ‘‘bucking up” against the Government. (Applause). Mr Brown next referred to the Advances to Settltrs Act, and said that Mr Seddon deserved the everlasting gratitude ol the people of New Zealand for puttiug that Act on the Statute Book, to give the settlers money at lour per cent, to develop their (arms. It w r as beautiful, splendid and grand legislation. But look at the administration. That Act 1 was passed for the good of the j people, but to get advances it was necessary to crawl on your bellies to your member. Then, again, a man could not get any lawyer he liked to transact the business for him. Oh, no, that had to be done through a firm ot solicitors in Wellington—the personel of which firm included a Government member —a nice, kind man, a freeholder, who once made the mistake ol voting against the Government on a non-confidence motion, but was so sorry afterwards. When a man had at last got his advance he was | generally so full of gratitude that | he felt he must vote lor the man who had done so much tor him and got the Government to make the advance. Dealing with the Commercial Trusts Act, Mr Brown said this was another instance of legislation not being put into force. The speaker said the reason lor this was because the Government were afraid of losing votes, support aud influence of the big manufacturing firms. Mr Brown said that if there was any particular question that any elector wished him to deal' with just to say so aud he would deal with it. He said he wished his audience to understand that he was not like some candidates and had made arrangements for a proposer aud seconder ol a vote ol thanks and confidence, who sometimes occupied seats in the body of the hall and sometimes on the platform. Neither did he arrange with his chairman to put the motion quick so that there would be no opportunity for questions. He liked answering questions aud hoped his hearers would ask plenty. He had never applied Ward’s Gag Act on the people. Mr Brown dealt at some length with Taxation, which he said, in order to pay for the Dreadnought and other things, had risen during the last 15 years Jrom 4(3 7s id to 3s 6d- The Government claimed to be a Liberal one aud they could see one thiug they were liberal in aud that was in taxing them. The taxation paid by the people in the Otaki electorate amounted to ,£63,000 per year. One argument why you should vole for a Government candidate | that was heard frequently was that i he would be able to get you public j money. Now the speaker asked, j bow much had Otaki got f Not more than ,£3OOO or ,(,4000. Of course iu election years a tremendous effort is made by putting votes on the supplementary estimates, aud this year Otaki were promised ,£2,200 if they were good. If they weren’t then they wouldn't get it. That amount was the bid of the Government candidate. The speaker contended that he could have done ; belter than that. He said, "Brown 1 would have had the audacity and ; cheek to stand on the floor of the 1 flouse and demand it, and they ; would give it to him to keep him ! quiet.” Referring to the Govern- , merit candidate’s criticism in con- | uection with the free breakfast 1 table, to the effect that the duty on j knives, forks aud other things was j to protect local industry. Mr | Brown wanted to know what local j industry- they protected. Knives 1 aud forks were not manufactured j iu New Zealand. Then the Go- j verument candidate said that food j stuffs were admitted duty free. It | they would look up the Customs 1 tariff they would find that there | was customs duty on oatmeal and ; flour. Was this to protect local j industry ? They all knew what j the h’lour Trust had done, and the : reason the Government had not : supported Mr Hogg’s Flour Duty ; Abolition Bill was because the | Flour Trust was "good cobbers” I with the G jvermueut. Then there I , was duty uu sauces, pickles, I

pepper, vinegar, cocoa, etc., and i yet the Government candidate J comes along and tells you that we I have a free breakfast table. Re- ; fArring to Lauds, Mr Brown said that one of the reasons why he had , been "dropped” by the Opposition i was because he would not submit 1 to the dans.“ in Mr Massey’s plat- \ fo; m to the effect that lessees in--1 peipetuity should be given the j freehold at the original value. ■ Personally, he believed iu the | freehold aud considered that a | man worked better if he had the 1 Ireehold, but he coaid not agree with Massey aud give the lessees in perpetuity the freehold at the original value. (Applause). The member for the Otaki electorate | was willing to do as Mr Massey ' would do and why ? Because there j arc a great number of lessees in i perpetuity iu this electorate. Mr j Brown said he would not trim to j catch votes. The lessees iu per--1 petuily had not got a purchasing danse aud if he held a lease from j a private individual, and some j years alter, when the value of the I land had increased enormously, he I went and asked that he should be given the freehold at the original I value he would be told to ‘‘get his I head iead,” aud that was what J was wrong with Mr Massey, he “wants his head read.” (Laughter aud applause). To give public estates away as suggested by Mr Massey is robbery. He wouldn’t do it with his own property and | he shouldn’t do it with the public’s. The unimproved value ot the land in question at the time the leases were granted was gjr, 510,000, and jat the present time tue unimproved value was ,£6,473,000 —a difference of ,£4,761,000 and that is what Mr Massey is prepared to give to the lessees iu perpetuity as a present. The speaker asked if that was an honest thing to do. They talked of the bribery of the Government —aud there was no doubt they do bribe —but now some Opposition members have learned it aud Mr Massey was one of them. There are 9000 holders of leases in perpetuity aud most of them would be married and have perhaps a son aud daughter over voting age, so that at the very lowest estimate they would command about 27,000 votes, aud the ireehold at the original value is the bribe Mr Massey is offering lor these votes, it is robbery 01 the people’s estate. (Applause). The candidate said that he had never asked a man for his vote and although he admitted there was nothing he desired more than to get into Parliament, he would rather never get there than go round asking lor votes. (Applause). He wished the electors to clearly understand that if elected he could not make them K.C.M.G’s. or baronets or even J’s.P. or anything else. If elected, he would not flud them billets, but if anyone had beeu wronged he would maite 11 his duty to see that they were lighted. As for finding billets tor the unwashed aud lick spittles he wouldn’t do it. It was tins duty, filthy system that had brought Parliament down to its present state. Dealing with the Graduated Hand Tax, Mr Brown said he favoured a considerable increase. The present tax was au absurdity aud did uot help the breaking up of large estates. It had beeu reported that he had slated that the laud tax was a meuace to the people. Fie never said auy such tiling.. What he did say was that the laud valuations were becoming a menace to the farmers ol New Zealand. The laud tax was not a meuace. He favoured doubling, trebling aud even quadiuplmg the graduated laud tax. At the present lime the Government are taking the taxes out ot the working men. He was in favour of redeeming the taxes from tue masses aud puttiug it on the graduated laud aud income taxes, aud yet some people called him a Conservative; tie was thoroughly democratic aud liberal. What was wanted iu politics was honesty. If a person desired to escape criticism all he had to do was to do nothing, say nothing aud be nothing. He desired to say aud do, and to be the Otaki electors’ member, aud he ventured to say that if they returned him he would be the best member they ever had iu their lives.

On resuming his seat the candidate was loudly applauded. In reply to questions Mr Brown said be was not in favour of parang wiui Endowments. He considered it was a very statesmanlike action on the part of Sir Joseph Ward to make the provision he had and he would not favour parting witu oue acre ot it. He would not support the abolition of the totalisator. He recognised that gambling was uineient in the people a. id a, would not abolish the totalisator until something ueae. was lonuff. He was iu favour of a bare majority on the liquor question. It there was to be any handicap he considered it should be iu the cause of righteousness uot unrighteousness. He favoured compulsory military training, but believed their should be a conscience clause. Mr Hornblow moved aud Mr Hurley seconded, that the candidate be accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his interesting address. As au amendment Dr. Adams moved and Mr Gardes seconded, that Mr Brown be accoided a vole ol tuauks aud confidence. Oa the amendment being put a very largo number held up their bauds iu support ot it, aud only three against aud the chairman declared it Canned. Mr Brown briefly returned thanks aud moved a vote of thanks to the chair which was carried by acclamation, anti the meeting terminated.

Mr \V. H. Field, M.P., speaks at Himataugi to-night aud Taikorea to-morrow night. Mr Monckton will be at Shannon to-night and Reikioraugi to-morrow night, and Mr Brown is at Ohau tonight and Shannon to-morrow night.