POLITICAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2043, 18 October 1919, Page 3

POLITICAL.

THE MANAWATU SEAT. MIL HILLIER AT FOXTON. The campaign for the Manawatu seat was opened at Foxton on Thursday night, when Mr A. C. Hillier, Labour candidate, addressed a meeting in the Town Hall. There was a fair attendance, and Mr E; G. Alexander occupied the chair, and briefly introduced the speaker. Mr Hillier, who was received with applause, said he was the standard bearer for the Xew Zealand Labour Party in the Manawatu Electorate, having been selected unopposed to contest the seat by all the Labour organisations and branches of the Party in this electorate. It was the intention of the Labour Party *to contest every seat in the Dominion and thus give the whole of the people the •opportunity of voting for what the Party believed was for pi’Ogress, or against the Labour Party. He said he wanted to fight this election as cleanly as it was possible- to do so. In the 191.1 election politics were brought down very low, and it would be the endeavour of candidates supporting the Labour platform to raise them from the gutter. Mr Hillier said he bad been connected with the Labour movement for the past‘2o years, and during that period had always acted in the direction of what lie considered was in the best interests of the majority of the- people. The first plank of the Labour Platform was Electoral Reform. They stood for Proportional Representation, which ho contended was the only scientific system for the election of Parliaments. Willi this system all parties in the community would gel representation according to their voting strength. This was not so under the present obsolete system 01. "first past the post.” At the last election the total number of votes polled was 521,525, and of these only 296,977 were effective, leaving 224,548 electors throughout the Dominion without any representation at all. To show that a similar result could not obtain under proportional representation, Mr Hillier quoted figures from the last Tasmanian election, conducted under the proportional .representation, system. In that election for-members of the House of Representatives, .1.8,039 voles were cast, and of these 17.025 were effective, leaving only 1,014 electors without representation. This, Mr Hillier contended, was clear proof that, proportional representation was the best system. If returned to power, one of the first enactments to he brought down by (lie Labour Party would be a Proportional Representation Bill. The Partv also advocated the Initiative, Referendum, and Recall. Loading statesmen of the world were coming to the conclusion that the present system was obsolete, and ho contended that this was the first step in the direction of instituting the Initiative. The people of the country should certainly have the right to initiate any legislation they desired, and also the right to repeal any enactment that they considered was not in the best interests of the community. The Labour Parly was prepared to trust the people. Mr Hillier referred to-the policy enunciated hy Sir Joseph Ward, whom he said advocated commercialising Hie country. The Labour Parly believed in conducting (ho affairs of (be country on a basis of “use.” 'There had been 100 much commercialism in past years, and their desire was to curtail it, hot extend it. Dealing with the question of the cost <d living, Mr Hillier said Jhe National Government's efforts to reduce same had been a ghastly failure, and cited what had been done in Queensland in (his direction. In that country the Government had grappled with the question, and their efforts bad greatly decreased the cost of living. Had the New Zealand Government been sincere there was no reason why a similar reduction should not have taken place here % In Queensland the first commodity dealt with was meat, and within three months after the opening of the first Government sho)) the price to the consumer was reduced by 4 U 1 per lb., and later on a further reduction of one penny per lb. was made. Notwithstanding these reductions, the Government meat enterprise there showed a profit on eleven months’ trading of £2,504 fis Now Zealand the Government opened up meat shops in Auckland, but alter running them lor six or eight weeks they were closed ftp again, the Government stating that it was impossible to reduce the prices of meat. Mr Hillier asked if Ids hearers considered that a Government that could not successfully run a butcher’s shop was capable of running a country. ' He quoted eases of other commodities whore action by the Queensland Government had resulted in a reduction of prices to the people. Referring to accident insurance, Mr Hillier said that for every £1 compensation paid to workers £2 Is fid was received in premiums.. In Queensland, accident insurance was a Government mono-, poly, and the result was that for each £1 paid in compensation, the premiums paid amounted to £1 4s 3d. In Queensland the cost of administration, etc., was only 4s 3d for each £l, as against £1 Is bd in T<iW Zealand. He referred to the hour bonus paid by the New Zealand Governmen) • te> the flourmillcrs, which he contended cost the country £300,009 per annum, whilst the whole of the flourmilling plants, buildings, etc., were valued, by their .owners at only £39/,720, He contended that instead of paying a bopus, the Government should have taken over the mills and produced

the (lour themselves. Mr Hillier so id that profiteering was rampant throughout the country, and the Government had taken no effective steps to deal with-same. Huge profits were being made hy the woollen mills in New Zealand, as the following ((notations taken from the Stock Exchange reports would prove: In 1914 Kaiapoi shares were quoted at ,C 5 fis Od, whilst in 1919 the .same shares were quoted at £8 ‘2s Od. In the same period, Mosgiel shares had increased in value from £3 15s Od to £5 Ids Od; Oamaru from £1 Os Od In £llos Od, ami Wellington from £4 8s Od to £8 2s Od. He mentioned the enormous profits earned by: the Shipping Companies, with the result that a £IOO share in the P. and o.' Line was now worth £OOO. He had particulars of one company whose plant was valued at £3,289,081, and the profits made for the six months ended March 31st last totalled £3,158,700, and for the six months preceding that £3,322,020, or more than sufficient in twelve months to buy the whole of their plant twice over. A huge mistake was made in this country in going in so much for cold storage instead of putting the money into ships. Australia had bought ships, and the result was that they got their produce away, but the Yew Zealand produce was still, lying in the cold stores. Referring to the distribution of wealth, Mr Hillier said the wealth in this country was getting into the hands of the few. In 1018 1(1,304 persons died, and of those. 12,017 left no estate at all. Of the remaining 4,347, 2,733 left estate valued at under £I,OOO, and 89 left over £20,000, the average of these 89 estates being £48,022. It had been said that the New Zealand Labour Parly was composed of extremists, but he asked his hearers to study the platform of the party and judge for themselves whether it was in the interests of the community as a whole that the reforms advocated should he carried out or not. On the land question the policy of the Labour Party was almost identical with (hat advocated by Mr Bodie, president of the Auckland Farmet.-f Union, and chairman of directors of’ the Fanners’ Union Trading Company. Mr Hillier said he would deal fully with the land .quest ion at a later meeting. In conclusion, lie said that if the people of New Zealand, desired a change of administration, if it was their desire to have the country governed in (lie interests of I lie majority, then they should vote for the Labour Parly, whose slogan was “all tor ouch, and each for all.” Mr Hillier was loudly applauded on resuming his seat.

In reply to a question by Mr E. G. Martin, the candidate said that if 'elected he would support a noconfidenee motion against either the Reform or Liberal Parties. On the motion of Mr Madden, seconded by Mr Jacobson, Mr- Hillier was accorded a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence.