LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 52

LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION.

SPEECH AT HAMILTON,

REPLY TO SIR J. G. WARD.

(Fbom Otto Owh CosußsyoarDeir? )

HAMILTON, March & At Hamilton to-night Mr W. f. Mt*s4f f M.P., Leader of the Opposition, in response to an invitation from the Political Reform League, delivered hir first political speech since the close of last seanon, and he also took the occasion to traverse the points of the policy speech delivered recently in Auckland by Sir J. G. Ward. The Hamilton Town Ball was filled to the doore, and the /Mayor of the town (Mr J. S. Bond) presided. Amongst others on the platform were Mr A. T. F. Wheeler (president of the branch of the. Political .Reform League), Mr F. W. Lang tM.P. for Manukau), Mr Lethbridge CM. P. f<n Oroua), and Mr Allen Bell (Opposition candidate, for Waifcato at the n«jct election). The Mayor briefly introduced Mr Massey, who was greeted with, prolonged applause. In opening his speech, the Opposition Leader returned thanks for the reception, which he appreciated all the more as it was given to one who came before them with empty hands. He could not promise them a toad or a bridge of post office. He could not even have the Mayor called t« the Legislative Council, or the gentleman moving the vote of thanks made a justict of the peace. In spite of misrepresentation and slander in some quarters/ the Opposition was much better understood than wai the ease some years Ago. It was recognised that the Opposition had done a great deal of good work. The Opposition wer« "the watchdogs of Parliament, and had th« unique distinction of seeing many of thei* proposals adopted by a Government which at first opposed them. When he last spoke at Hamilton he had referred to the Advances to Workers Act. He explained what bad taken place. When he, moved a clause in the amendment to the Advances to Settlers Act, providing that wage^earner* who were owners of sectiona should be allowed to borrow at low interest and on easy terms of repayment, those proposals were opposed by the Government, . and afterwards the Government introduced a bill in the same direction. Wheo that bill was in committee he noticed that it had a defet* in that it applied only to worker* in country districts. He then moved an amendment to omit the words " urban and . suburban," thus making the bill general m application. This was also opposed by , the Government, but last session tie Government introduced a bill on exacthr tb* same lines, omiting the words * urban and suburban" in the act. — (Loud applause.) That was to say, the Government had 12 months to think it over and had oomi to the conclusion that he was right and it was wrong, but it had not the courtesy to ; acknowledge " it.— (Applause.) He neationed this to show . that the Opposition, members were as anxious to encourage, industry and self-reliance on the part of the workers as any other members of the House, and perhaps even more "so. — (Loud applause.) ' Dealing with the land question, Mr"Massey said he kn«w the "majority of tha people of New Zealand would agree with him in saying that had it not been for the Opposition the Land Bill of 19C6 would have been law.— (Applause.) The- ! Opposition stopped it. and he was proud lof it. As long as the party system obtained—and he did not see how they" could, get away from it, — if they wanted sound .administration they wanted a strong Opposition. — (Applause.) He thanked Sir' J. G. Ward for his courteous reference to, himself (Mr Massey) in speaking at Auckland, and he (Mr 'Massey) did not intend indulging in personalities. When he referred to a Minister it was only to the Minister in his official capacity. The people of the - country districts were not likely to forget the flourish of trumpets with which the Land Bill was introduced. The Government 6aid it would stand or fall by the bill, but it didn't stand or fall. Why? Because it ran away at the first attack. — - 'Laughter.) The Government said the 1907 bill was not for the purpose of nationalising land — it would not cream of euohathing, — but the endowments were for the purpose of education and old-age pensions. Education now cost £900,000. and old-age pensions between £300,000 and £400.000. The whole revenue from, the lands set aside by ■^fhe bill was, even if -they were all taken up to-morrow, only £49,000. That revenue would increase, it might be said, but it would not increase for 66 years, and a lot of the lands would never be taken up on lease from now to the day of judgment. — (Applause.) Who could tell what would be the cost of education or old-age pensions in 66 y«Jßre. It was quite certain that the proportion of difference between that cost - and the revenue from the land would be far greater even than it was now. It was absolute nonsense U> set aside second and third class lands for endowments, and the Government knew that the endowments were a mere pretext to nationalise as much land as could be got hold of under that excuse. — (Applause.) When the schedule of the Endowments Bill wa» before the House numbers of members proposed that their electorates should be omitted, and when it came to Nelson the member for that district, who had voted against the exemption, of any northern electorate and had voted for the leasehold always, " woijld have bis electorate exempted. He was ready to shed his brother's blood but not his own. Quite a change came over the scene last session. The previous year members had been anxious to show thir independence and to kick over the traces, but last session they were all obedient. It was a strange coincidence. There were a number of people who thought the land question was settled. He could . tell them it was not. settled.— (Applause.) It was no nearer settlement now than for many years. Next election the Socialistic section would come along and ask for more, and expect to get it, for it had been getting a little every, ■ session for the last 11 yeara, while on th« ; other hand the Opposition would endeavour to have ' the option of the freehold .^ranted) to every settler who had taken up landunder the Land for Settlements Acb just as well as the settlers on the ordinary Crown lands.— (Loud appjause.) Thafe would not suit the Socialistic party, but the people should not forget that the lands of the Dominion were being nationalised at the rate of half a million of pounds worth per year. Tho Government was spending half a million pounds a year under the Land for Settlements Act. and

•ettling that land on lease, and making it impossible for those settlers to even look forward to a freehold. The proper thing was to give those settlers the freehold, and he looked forward to doing something in this matter next Parliament. — (Loud applause.) When the present Administration took office it missed a great opportunity. If it had brought out an up-to-date scheme of settlement and eaid, "We are going to open the land as fast as it is possible to open it, and road it and encourage good settlers and give them the option of the freehold," there would have been such an advance in settlement as this country had never seen. — (Applause, and a Voice : "•Give them time.") We have given them time, retorted Mr Massey, and they have failed miserably. — (Loud laughter.) Their hearts are tiot in the work, but in the other direction. Continuing, he said if the Government had given the freehold there- would have been more going on "the Land in Auckland in 12 months than had been seen for 10 years. — (Applause.) But the Government missed the opportunity, and at the first chance the Minister of Lands showed that he was in favour of the land nationalisation theory put forward by Mr Keir Hardie and others of that cult. " Mr Keir Hardie said that Socialism had only one aim, and that was to convert all land and industrial capital into public property, but he did not say how this was to take place. At anyrate, when it was accomplished the whole population would either be Crown tenants or employees of the State. That sort of idea did not appeal to him, end he did not believe it was possible: but he believed this sort of theory might do an immense amount of harm before the people realised that they were making a very serious mistake. — (Applause.) He believed that any nation or country taking up this theory would fall behind in the race of civilisation. — (Applause.) .He spoke of the distinction betwen Socialism and Liberalism, and went on to say that private enterprise made this country what it was, and private enterprise drained the Waikato and made it a prosperous and habitable and • happy country. — (Applause.) Socialism would never pay the national debt nor the interest on the national debt.

Although he was no lover of the lease-in-perpetuity, he believed it was preferab.e to the present system, under which if a man and his family were industrious their industry would be taxed with higher rent at the end of 66 years, by which time many great improvements would have become invisible and be called exhausted improvements Most of thosn present knew what exhausted improvements were when the Government Valuer was round. This was not the way to encourage settlement ; it was the way to discourage it, and it was impossible to encourage settlement unless they gave the incentive of the freehold. — (Applause.) Probably but few of them had heard of the Rewi Settlement, near Tau'piri, which was opened on renewable lease — the very first to be opened under tho new act in 17 large sections. There was not a ■ingle applicant for any one of the sections. He did not know the reason, but if it had been opened with the freehold option he thought every acre would have been applied for. — (Loud applause.) Why should not the Matamata and Fencourt settlers, who occupied land under the Lands for Settlement Act. have the option of the freehold just -as well as any other settler?— (Applause.) Referring to Sir J. G. Wards speech at Auckland, Mr Massey went on to sar he understood it was a policy speech, and Sir Joseph Ward announced it as a r.olicy speeoh. He (Mr Maswy) had taken the trouble to look carefully through it with the object of finding the policy which was intended to be disclosed, and he regretted to find nothing in it to indicate any policy whatever. He was not alone in this. .. Others had scrutinised the speech end had failed to fin dT any policy. The luvttelton Times (a Government paper) had declared editorially that it was bound to say it did not know where to find a full statement of the .Liberal policy, and it could find nothing in Sir J. G. Ward's speech which could be accepted as a policy in the true sense of +he word.— (Applause.) He (Mr Massey) could only .find one new proposal, and that was what might be called the cabbajre-garden policY — a proposal that vegetables should be grown and, he presumed, delivered by individuals wearinar one of his Majesty's uniforms, with the broad arrow conspicuously displayed thereon. Dealing with Sir Joseph's statement that he was not in favour of revolutionary Socialism, Mr Massey sa-id that seemed like Asking- someone resident in Hamilton where he lived, and that person replying somewhere on the railway line between Wellington. and- Auckland.— (Laughter.) That reply would not convey much information; neither did Sir Joseph Ward's reply when he said he did not believe in revolutionary Socialism. While on this ftoint he (Mr Massey} would point out that there was a very wide difference between State aid to private enterprise and the State coming into competition, or trying to take the place of private enterprise. The one was absolutely right and the'-other was absolutely wrong. The latter was whet the true Socialist was after. The true Socialist -wanted to do away with all industry except what was run by the Government, and to do away with all competition except competition for Government billets, and yet would not admit that he was a revolutionary Socialist. He (Mr Massey) would like to ask Sir J. G. Ward whether he was in favour of nationalising the land, and, if he was not- in favour, why did his Government introduce the Land Bill of 1806 and the Endowment Bill of 1907, both of which went in that direction. And if Sir Joseph was not in favour of nationalisation of the land, would he ' give the settlers reasonable opportunity of acquiring the freehold. — (Applause.) Then, Sir Joseph Ward said he was in favour of giving everyone in the Dominion an opportunity of' learning a- trade. So was he (Mr Maesey), but he had always been under the impression that the Government had placed difficulties in the way of youths who desired to learn a trade or profession, as many of those present who had sons or daughters would know. — (Applause.) He was anxious to remove this difficulty, and if Sir J. G. Ward would lead the way nex£ session he (Mr Massey) would assist him', and he thought he could say the same for the members of the Opposition party. — (Loud applause.) That reminded him that last session the Government introduced a bill for the amendment of the Arbitration, and Conciliation Act, professing to abolish the professional agitator. What became of that bill? It was not proceeded with.

The Government ran away from it as it did from he Land Bill of 1906.— (Applause.) He would like to ask Sir Joseph Ward if he intended to reintroduce this bill this session, and whether he intended to make an effort to place it on the Statute Book. These were reasonable questions to ask, and he hoped they would be answered in a resonable and straighforward manner, not by wordy platitudes or well-turned phrases, over which the Attorney -general wasted so many gallons of midnight oil. These were questions of importance just now. He (Mr Massey) believed that the majority of the members of Parliament, including the Legislative Council and the members of the Cabinet, were willing to accept Socialism, meaning thereby the State taking over the ownership of the lands and of the country's industries. If that was so, he (Mr Massey) asked, What were the electors going to do about it. That was the question electors would be asked next November, and which he hoped and believed they would answer in a satisfactory manner.— (Loud applause.) Touching on finance, Mr Massey said he would not say the country was bankrupt because it was not. It was sound and prosperous, but while it was prosperous it was just possible that our financial methods were not what they ought to be and he believed they left a great deal fco be desired. It would be well if the people of this country would think a little more about the finances. Few people were aware that during the last six years the debt of the country had increased by 16 millions, and there were few aware of the even more important fact of the great increase in the oefc indebtedness per head SL lso^]^ 011 since 1895 - In 1895 }t wae £57 9s 9d per head, and in 1907 £67— an increase approximately of £10 per head. • During the last 14 years the country had increased its debt by 25 millions. He was not going to say it was possible to do without borrowing, because it was not; but the question was, Were they getting full value for the enormous sums? He was willing to admit that the moneys devoted to the purchase of lands and to loans to local bodies had been judicious expenditure ; but with regard to the 10 millions on public works, knowing something of the methods by which they were carried out, and of the method of selecting works to be done, he questioned whether the country got value for its money. — (Applause.) He was not a believer in Royal Commis- . sions generally, because the Government usually appointed men whose views were known before, but if two experts could be got from outside the Dominion to report on the public works, and whether the system was the most economical and the most efficient, the report would be interesting reading. — (Applause.) Dealing with railway expenditure and revenue and capital account, he said there" was much rollinor stock which should have been written off years ago and replaced with new stock paid out of revenue. — (Applause.) He spoke of the difficulty of anyone. &xo&%rk a.n «tperi, muJsrstanding the railway accounts, and of the necessity for the preparation of clear and easily intelligible statements. He referred to the case of the Customs official being paid -travelling expenses for every day in addition to his salary as an , instance of the necessity for better super- ; vision of expenditure. , Dealing with Government patronage. Mr Maseey said he thoutrht no representative , in Parliament should receive any side , benefits from -the Government. It would be very^ interesting' to know how many members during the last 10 years had been arrateful for favours received : how many had been appointed to Royal Commissions, and 1 received" payment in addition to their honorariums. He would like to know how many land transactions were - worked by backstairs influence — not only Native, but European land as well. Then there were public works granted to the men, who had the -political. pull. The passing of the^pEetimates was a mere farce. There was n6t a member of Parliament who knew 5 per cent, of the roads he was voting 1 money for. Had it not been for this system, which gave Ministers such powers to patronise, he honestly believed there would have been an. amendment of the local bodies' system long ago. — (Loud applause.) Be dwelt upon the necessity for improvement in the local bodies' law, pointing out in how much better a position local bodies were to know what were the most . urgent work than was Parliament. j The people in the back districts deserved 1 every facility and encouragement. The Government was at a loss for a policy. He had supplied it with a policy before, and would do so again, and it was this: Security of tenure for the settlers and good roads for the out districts — (applause), — and he knew of nothing that would so conduce to the prosperity of the couiltry as that.— (Applause.) The Government should ', maintain the arterial roads and leave the ' rest to the local bodies, giving them assured finance, and the local body which rated itself highest should receive the highest subsidy.— (Loud applause.) He wanted to see Parliament something more than a, , huge Board of Works.— (Applause.) The burnings of Parliament Buildings, Mr Massey went on to say. seemed to have drawn attention to the absence of arrangements for insurance and for depreciation of our own public buildings. It was impossible for him to say what the loss through the fire amounted to, but he should think it would cost £150,000 to erect new buildings. Had the library gone it would have been a national calamity. But the point to which he wished to direct attention -was the mode by which our public buildings were paid for when they were erected. They were paid for out of the Public Works Fund. He did not suggest that the Public Works Fund was all borrowed money because in times of prosperity they transferred part of the surplus from the Consolfdated Fund to the Public Works Fund, but, taking the last halfdozen years, he thought he was within the mark in saying that the Public Works Fund consisted of 75 per cent, of borrowed money and 25 per cent, from the revenues. Financial experts were almost unanimously of. opinion that there were many item* charged to capital account which should be oner^ed to revenue. If that wae the oaee, it meant that the capital account was almost, if not wholly, borrowed money, so that our public building* were paid for out of borrowed money, and as time went on and they got out of date or burned they were repaired or restored out of borrowed money again, He wanted to know whether anyone would say that was sound finance. He said it was not. — (Applause.) There should be a depreciation fund, bo that at the end of the Average life gl anj building there,

would be sufficient to replace it. That would be both good business and sound finance. — (Applause.) There were differences of opinion as to where the new buildings should be erected. Some urged the centre of the North Island and some the centre of the South Island. The suggestions were evidently made without serious thought. In Wellington some thousands of people were employed in the departmental building, while the printing works employed some hundreds of hands. There was also the library, which cost between £30.000 and £40,000, so that whatever might have been the case 30 or 40 years ago they could not get away from Wellington as the best city tor the seat of Government. He thought the new Parliament Buildings should be erected on the old site; and while he was quite willing that provision should be made for a building which would serve for Parliament purposes for many years to come, he was strongly opposed to anything in the way of wasteful extravagance, and anything in that direction would meet with his moat strenuous opposition. — (Loud applause.) There had been too much legislation in the last 10 years, and if all the acts were enforced three-quarters of the people would be in gaol and the other quarter would be looking aftor them. He deplored the fact that Customs duty was made payable on mining and agricultural machinery, the Government having gone in for a protective duty instead of a revenue duty. He believed in protecting established industries to a reasonable extent, but where they could do nothing to assist or encourage such industries as mining and agriculture the Go t eminent should have done nothing to injure them. Referring to the navy contribution matter, Mr Massey said that the present subsidy was quite inadequate for the defence afforded. It now meant only Is per head, end we could afford more. — (Loud applause.) In England it was 5s per J head, and the average New Zealander was just as much interested in the defence as were the people of England. — (Loud applause.) He also advocated the encouragement of the Volunteer system and an efficient supply of arms and ammunition. — t Applause.) The Legislative Council system was an anomaly in a country which talked of its democracy and representative institutions. The - present system suited party purposes, and therefore it rema.incd. Two candii dates who had opposed him h-ad both been called to the Upper House, so he expected . a rush of candidates for Franklin at the : election. — (Laughter.) There were men iri different parts of the country who had been in Parliament or on local bodies — men who should be in the Council, — but i these men were not chosen. He wanted ' the Dominion to understand that the Legislative Council was being used for party political purposes, and he hoped to see the ; people insisting upon the Council being : made directly representative of tho people. ' (Uou« applause.) With reference to the Gambling Bill, he condemned the yes-no attitude of the Government, which had in a bill to suppress 1 _ gambling provided that racing clubs must give betting facilities to bookmakers. Gilbert and Sullivan never imagined anything , funnier. He spoke as one not very keen on the totalisator. and he thought the totalisator, if it was licensed , N should have ' its profits turned to other purposes than the Consolidated Fund. — (Applause.) But the totalisator method was preferable to the bookmakers. — (Applause.) The Legislative Council had voted out the restriction of ! raoing days, and thus gone against Ihe wish of the people. — (Loud applause.) That?" was the way gambling was suppressed. He ■ <|a!led it humbug. — (Applause.) There j were clauses in that act vvliioh were a dis1 grace to any Parliament, and he hoped they would be wiped out.— (Applause.) The Native Land Commission said it was its intention to settle the question of Native land m the near future, and he hoped it 1 would, but he had not forgotten that the j road to a certain country was paved witlr good intentions, and he expected little from that commission, for it seemed that ( it had been appointed to pick up information which should be possessed by the Native j Department. — ("Hear, hear.") Tho patience of the European population was just" about exhausted, and they had made up their^ minds that the 'Native lands had to be utilised for some other purpose than growing noxious weeds. He would say to Mr Carroll and other Maori leaders that if they had the idea that they were going to set up a Maori landlordry to live on the industry of white tenants they were making a great mistake. — (Loud applause.) The time had come when the Natives should be railed on to share the duties and responsibilities of the pakehas, and it would be beter for both. — (Applause.) Touching on the coalition idea, Mr Massey made a very definite pronouncement. He said there were -many people, j who thought there was very little difference between the political beliefs of the Govern- ' ment and .the political beliefs of the Opposition. Those people evidently took a ! very superficial view of the position. It was quite true there was not so much difference between the two parties as there was prior to the big backdown of the Government and the land question — (applause), — and prior to the Government accepting so many of the Opposition suggestions — (applause), — but on the land question there was still a- very important difference between the parties. The Opposition idea was that every settler, wherever possible should have the opportunity of acquiring the freehold. The idea of the Government seemed to be to .stop the freehold wherever possible. Then it went without saying that the Government was anxious to increase the tax upon land. The increase in land "tax for the current year was over £100,000, and the increase for next year would probably be even a larger amount. The Government had shown its sympathy with the single tax idea by including in the Cabinet the most straighout single-taxer in Parliament, and the fact of the Government having flaunted the single-tax flag in the faces of the settlers in this way would be sufficient to keep him (Mr Massey) in Opposition if there was no other difference of opinion. — (Cheers.) Then, in connection with the Legislative Council, the Government, if it hjwi any belief at all, seemed fco believe in the system of nomination, whereas the Opposition believed in making the Legislative Council elective and representative of the people. — (Cheers.) In connection with the appointments to the public service of the Dominion, apart from the small proportion who were appointed on account t of having passed the -civil service exafflina-

tions, the Government evidently believed in appointment by political influence. The Opposition believed in appointment according to merit and fitness — that was in applications being made by a civil service board, suoh as was in operation in Great - Britain, Canada, and Australia, where the people would certainly not consent to go back to the obsolete methods in operation in those colonies years ago, and which were still in operation here. — (Loud applause.)

Another of difference was the Socialistic theory. Judged by its actions rather than by its worde^ the Government either sympathised with or -were afraid of the Socialistic influence. — (Applause.) The Opposition, on the other hand, was opposed to Sooialism. —(Loud applause.) There were others — perhaps minor points, — but he had mentioned sufficient to show that there was more difference between the parties on important questions than of the mere "ins" and "outs." He could say for the Op-position that it was anxious in every possible way to promote the prosperitr of the people and of the Dominion. — (Cheers.) Mr Massev then announced that he 'was ready to answer questions, a statement which was received with prolonged applause. A number- of questions were put and answered, and then Mr W. Sturgers moved a hea-ry vote of thanks to Mr Massey for his able and statesmanlike address, and of confidence in him as Leader of the Opposition. This was carried unanimously amidst great applause. Subsequently the Political Reform League entertained Mr Massey at a banquet.