THE OTAKI SEAT.

Otaki Mail, 2 October 1922, Page 3

THE OTAKI SEAT.

MR BARENESS AT TE HORO. , Mr C. I. Harkness, Independent R< form candidate for tho Otaki scat, at ’ dressed a meeting of electors at T - Horo on Friday night, but only abou a dozen attended. Mr F. J. Rydei , who was in the chair, said he had pleat lire in introducing Mr Harkness, a gen tlonian who lie said he know' to be sin cere. Ho considered electors shoult consider what sort of a man should re present them in Parliament, and ii this connection he had no hesitation it stating that Mr Harkness had htu splendid parents, while the candidati himself was clean-living and a man of the right strain. (Applause). Mr Harkness, in opening, thanked all for the cordial reception accorded him, and said he agreed with the Chairman that a candidate for Parlimentary honours should give information about himself. Electors had a right to know who the candidate was, wljat he had done in the past, whether liis records, were clean, and what ho intended to do in the future. Mr Harkness said he was proud of the past life of his parents, and one of his ideals had been to emulute thorn. He had always endeavoured to be consistent, his character was clean, he had had a g-ml education, finishing off at a high school where there were efficient teachers. He had had a commercial training, having been twelve years in tho Bank of New’ (south Wales, had been in the cities and large towns, and had left the Bank eight or nine years ago to go farming. Since being in the Levin district he had mixed up in public concerns and with public bodies. He had been Chairman of

the Ohau School Committee, had helped to form the Kuku Co-operative Dairy Co., and for a time had been its secretary, While on the school committee he was nominated for a position on the Education Board and returned top of the poll. Later he was elected unopposed to a seat on the Horovhenua County Council, and had also been a member of other local bodies. With educational matters he claimed to have been very successful, and during his term of live years on the Education Board most of the schools, including Paekakariki, Mauakau, Waikunae, and To Horo, had been improved. At To Horo the school was handicapped by having two teachers only; he went into the matter and found there were three rooms. Three weeks later he had a third teacher, and intended to light hard to have that teacher retained al v though the attendance had dropped. He

had been successful in uplifting the secondary department at tho Levin High School, anil had done such good work that his opponents had nominated him for a later election. He considered he had secured good returns and results that they had not had in the past. He had been the means of putting the school on a solid basis, and ho maintained a man was wanted that did such acts for education. Some members went into Parliament, slept

for two years and nine months, and then for the remaining three months asked a few pertinent questions. lie was dead against the abolition of education boards, and contended electors should not allow the privileges of the people to be taken away. Hu did not believe in one-teacher schools springing up where children could be brought into a central school. He considered it difficult for one teacher to have complete control of all classes, and believed in having efficient teachers for each class. He favored a motor-service to bring children to a central school, believed in compulsory education, but thought up to the age of 17 would bo a hardship on many a working man. lie thought the remuneration of teachers should be raised, and maintained secondary teachers were not paid as they deserved to be. The capitation to schools was inadequate and should be raised, and while he agreed with the superannuation fund to a. certain ex-

tout, lie considered it unfair for a man to pay in for years and tv lieu lie died the widow to receive only £lB a year. The widow, by this paltry amount, was left practically destitute, despite the fact that her husband may have paid in a large sum. He maiutained widows should be properly looked after. Schools, he said, must have good teachers, and considered the country schools should be on a parallel with city schools in this respect, while buildings should be built in the country in proportion to those built in the citj • Surely if Palmerston N. could get £43,000 in one hit some of the country schools should receive more attention, and if their present member could not help them the electors should elect someone who would. Personally he would guarantee to get as much considoration as the towns got. Touching on the Palmerston N. railwav deviation Mr Hurkness said it up peared to him that that town was getting everything. soiue £63,000 had been spent lately, and now the Palmerston folk desired £SOO.OOO spent on the deviation. It was scandalous, and he maintained that when money waf bor-

rowed it should be spent to advantage. This £BOO,OOO would be to no advantage; the deviation was unnecessary. He believed the Rimutaka line should be deviated, and thus keep the Napier traffic on that line. Money spent on this would be justified especially as the haulage cost at present -was excessive. The Levin-Greatford deviation would also be a good thing, and would be the means of doing away with reckless expenditure at Palmerston N. There was no need'for Palmerston to spend a penny, and he hoped the Government would not be foolish enough to grant the money asked for. He considered a national highway was necessary from north to south as the burden on the farmers at the present time w-as too great. It would be a decided advantage to have a highway, and the matter was one which should be handled by the Government. Some thought the Blatter on® for County

Councils but in this ho differed. Tho I Government, he maintained, was in a better position to raise a loan at a lower rate than County Councils, and he believed in having the loan raised overseas, The main road in the Horowhenua County cost £ 20 per mile to maiu- ’ tain, and in consequence of this amount being spent the by-roads had to suffer. Motor traffic he considered necessary, and he maintained roads should be made for it, a tyre tax used as interest against the loan. The tyro tax j was a. good one as it was only fair and ( right that motorists pay in the right proportion. Some Counties complained. , of the Government taking over main J | arterial roads but he was out for bet-j ; tor roads and less Tates, and he liiainj tained if the Government could do this , let it have the roads. The Minister | i had told a deputation that he could not 1 get the support of members of Parliament over the highway, simply because i the County Conference turned the sugi gest ton-down. This showed what backl bone some members were possessed of.

At present a 120-ton engine could go over railway bridges and as this was so County Councils should place their bridges in a similar position. What was wanted was a man in Parliament with vision and not men that only woke up three months prior to ail election. Concerning Government grants Air Harkness said the district had been starved, while Wallace and other County Councils had received plenty. He asked, what had our member been doing'.’ The people hud a right to know! A deputation from this district had gone down for a grant and was told there was no money available, yet others eould get grants. The only grant this district had got was one for returned soldiers for a road near Foxton. and even then the soldiers paid dearly for it.

As for land aggregation and speculation he was opposed to both, they were bad for industries, especially dairying. In his opinion they should have small holdings of say 70 to 80 acres of good land, or more if of poorer quality. A man must have a certain amount of good land. He would like to see the working man own his old land and house.

Touching on soldiers’ land Air Harkness considered soldiers were entitled to a fair deal; at present they were burdened with debt and worry. They had gone through privations and the count rv owed them a debt of gratitude.

Referring to representation lie considered they should be represented in Parliament by dairy-farmers as they were a dairying district, and only a dairy farmer knew the requirements. He considered a civil servant had a cheek to seek election here —they already had too many civil servants and lawyers in Parliament. They could not have the troubles of dairy farmers at heart, and electors should be careful in their choice of a representative — they should wake up. Atr Harkness, in referring to dairying. said tho district was a duiryiug one, and that the country exported large quantities of produce every year, and was likely to export far more, therefore there should be more farmers in Parliament.

He believed in co-operation which had'done much tor the dairying industry. and considered co-operation should be extended, that wc should market our produce at Hume and have our own boats to carry it. It was time they woke up. Farmers should fix the price for their produce, and not allow the merchants to do it. They wanted men in Parliament who would attend to these matters.

Mr Harkness said he was opposed to extreme labour, and considered socialism had been a fiasco. He considered New Zealand was insufficiently banked, and that there should be more competition. Alorcbanks would mean greater competition, and the rate of interest would be lowered. If there was a iftute bank rate of interest would come down, and if properly run would be a great success. At present banks were making huge profits, and men should be elected to Parliament who could talk on the question.

He was in favour of a graduated land tax. and considered the tax should be placed on those best able to pay. Taxation on some lands was far too High and should be lowered, while the large land-owner should be forced to subdivide. People should also lie made to pay on luxuries. The farmer, ho considered, was unable to pay more taxes.

Referring to shipping Air Harkness considered the country should run its own ships, and stated that although millions of pounds were invested in New Zealand the Government did not own a single boat. He considered a fleet should be secured, in which importers should also be concerned —it be’ing desired to have full ships tiavelling each way.

There was something wrong in the j railway administration, and for an ex- j ample he asked bis audience to look t at the hold motor traffic had. He considered heavy traffic should be taken by raii at lower freight; if motors could J make cartage pay surely the railways | coujd. The trouble was there were too . many political railways, and he took j exception to Taranaki moving to have , the New Plmouth express run right through. It u-as desired that the railways should be run for the benefit of the people and not for politicians. Mr Harkness dealt with the civil servants’ second cut. and considered the Government should be consistent on the matter. The Government stated that the cost of living had come down, and although salaries at the Veraroa farm had been cut down house rents and board -were still up. If the cut was made rents, etc., should be lowered. . He was against bookmaker; and favored the totalizator in preference. Tho Government he considered did quite right in wiping out the bookies —clean ' sport was wanted. If the booiies could not be exterminated they should bt locked, up.

He bclieved"in reafforestation, and considered it should be encouraged, especially on waste lands. Tho expenditure, as proposed, should not be curtailed. It had been stated that it Would cost £7OO to top-dress the Ohau bridge, but he pointed out, if timber was grown locally the cost would be considerably reduced.

Prohibition: It was "usual to say, ' said Mr Harkness, that this was not a political question, and was one for the people to decide. That was, in his opinion, half truth and half lie. State control, he considered, should be taken off the ballot paper, and it should be a straight-out issue—booze or no booze, beer or no beer! Prohibition was a great reform aiming at the efficiency of the country. Air Harkness gave instances of misery drink had caused, stating he had known one man to suicide on account of it. Boer, he said, was no good to anyone, and prohibition would be a great move for the efficiency of the country. Prohibition would eventually come, if not this election it would come next.

Air Harkness said he had troubles just like others, and was out for democratic government and to get the greatest good for the greatest number. Ho would probably be asketf what party he would follow. Well, he considered Air Massey one of the greatest Imperial Prime Alinisters the country had ever had and the only man to lead them. He would pledge himself to vote for Air Alassey against any combination of labour and Bolshevism; he could not allow Holland to lead the country. Air Alassey has piloted the ship of State successfully in the past, and could do so again, therefore they could not do better than have him at the head of affairs. He reserved the right to criticise acts ho thought were not just. (Applause). Air Ryder said he was proud of the address given, and glad to see Air Harkness had been straight and to the point. Air Evelyn Macdonald, in proposing a. hearty vote of thanks to Air Harkness. said he considered the candidate had dealt with matters ably and stated lie was a man all could admire. He asked Air Harkness not to be discouraged at the poor attendance, and hopdd next time there would be a full house. Air Davidson seconded tlie motion which was curried unanimously. Air Harkness thanked all for the patient hearing and said any advice tendered by Mr Macdonald would be welcomed. It was yet early in (he campaign and the next time he came round he hoped to see a large gathering. (Applause).