HON. J. A. MILLAR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 41

HON. J. A. MILLAR.

ENTERTAINED BY HIS COMMITTEE

MINISTERIAL ADD.EE3SES,

I There was a very large gathering of ladies and gentlemen in St. Paul's Schoolroom on the 19th, when the friends and constituents of the Hon. J. A.» Millar, Minister of Railways, tendered him a complimentary social, line hall was lavishly and very tastefully decorated with flags, Oriental ornaments, end everg-rterhs, and the stage was given the v app&Tance of a drawing room. In black letters at the back of the platform was a table setting forth Mr Millar's majorities at his first and" last elections. In 1893, when he stood for Chalmers, he headed the poll with a majority of 119; in 1908, when he : \»as returned as the parliamentairy x represen-, tative of Dunedan West, he had a majority r of 2447. The following, notices, appearing among the decorations, told the story of Mr Millar's career : "" Apprenticed sea ser- - vice 1871/' " Master Mariner. 1834." "Elected to Parliament, 1893." "Chairman , of Committees. 1903." " Fisheries Amendment Act." "Minister in Charge of Friendly Societies.'' " Minister of Marine, Labour, Customs, and Machinery 1906.'* "Minister of Railways, Marine, and Machinery, 1909.", The ladies responsible for the decorations were Mesdames F. Wilkinson, Jackeon, Jarman, King, and Russell, Misses Wilkinson, Coates, and Bou*ke, assisted by Messrs M. Sinclair. W. Wilkinson, D. Larnech, and the hall-keeper (Mr Er ridge). . , . Mr M. Sinclair was chairman. On his ri«rht was the Hon. J. A. Millar, on his left the Hon. R. M'Keozie, and the following ! ladies and gentlemen were also present on the platform— Mrs Cafiin, Misses Millar, Wilkinson, Sinclair, and Alison, and Messrs W. Wilkinson-, Johnstone. and Matbeson. The Chairman said he had received 'telegrams of congratulation from the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie, and the president of the Libc-al an<f Labour Federation in Auckland. It was not the duty of the chairman ♦o make a speech on such an occasion. He simply wished to say they were delighted to lhave the Hon. Mr Millar and Miss MiX lar with them— (applause),-=and_ to heartily weloeire the Hon. R. M'Kenzie.— (Applause.) The gathering, he added, was arranged by the committee onkf for those who were the active workers on Mr Millar's committee. If the -loors had been opened to the public ihe latest hall in Dunedin would not nave held the a ttendance.-(Applauae.) » mustbe a gratification to Mr Millar to see so many friends present— friends who were ready to com.* forward at any time and lend him a hand in an election campaign.— TlifeHoh. Roderick M'Kenzie was the first speaker. He expressed Ths personal pleasure in being present among them and assisting them in doing -honour 'to his esteemed friend and colleague Mr Millar. They had been some years in Parliament together^ were elected to the House on the same day, and had worked well together in what they both believed were the best interests of the people of this country. He was himself one <f the latest additions to the Ministry, and the members of the Ministry, he assured them, went sincerely to work to improve the condition of the people of this country so far as they could. Their aims and objects were to do the best they could for New Zealand, Many people, maybe, disagreed with their way of going about it. There were, of course, mistakes . —there were bound to be mistakes on the part of a Govern-ent whose 'aim was to be constantly enacting legislation to «"Pr°ve I the condition of the country, He had, however, no intention of discussing politics. He was present to do honour to Mr Millar I —a good man, who ought to be kept in , the Parliament of this country, and in a hig-h position in that Parliament —(Applause.) Looking around the hall, he felt that Mr Millar had a great power behind him here >n Dunedin, and a larjre and determined working committee. Personally, he had not been assisted by a committee i at any time during his 16 years' pariia- ' mentary experience. He had always done his own electioneering, and was his own ! committee, because his district was a large and scatieved ootintry one, which, unlike a 1 city electorate, did not lend itself ready to the services of a committee. As a Govern- ' ni"nt they endeavoured to continue the policy of the old Liberal party, and claimed that, they h.id passed legislation durine the past 19 or 20 years that bad improved conditions of this country enormously in the direction of assisting the poor as well as the rich. They did nol. propose to encour1 ace extreme wealth, and they were certainly not eoing lo have extreme poverty ! if they could prevent it. There had been a slip-ht depression m the country recently, j but he thought, at the samp time, that I rathor too much had been made nut of it. I However, that depression was disappearing, and things were becoming easier. In tliis conneefion. '>c remarked that he, as 1 Minister of Public Works with between ■ 9000 and 10.000 men in the employ of his department, held a position of very great responsibility. Mr Millar, as Minister of Railways, had also in his control a department thai employed a very great, many workmen, and he had therefore a j sinrlar responsibility Between them, they i Had to control a sreat many thousand men. They endeavoured io treat everyone with I the utmost respect and fairness, and if they ' ooul 1 assist anyone they were pleased to ' do so. The head of the Government was a gentleman whom the* till knew. He was a man who did his best to carry on the »overnment of the e*"iiitrv to the advantage of the -people. — (Applause.) Since he liad known ihf present head of the Ministry j he had recognised in him a -gentleman of I grent abilitv--a man wlio went sincerely and earnestly to work for the benefit of the Dominion. — (Applause.) But on that ocaKion h- - 'li«. not intend to mak" a political speech. It gavp him gi eat pleasure to b-=> with them to -le honour to their member. n.nd io see for himself the hiph j esteem in which Mr Millar was held in I his constituency. It was not. a hitrher pst-e^rn than he really deserved, and lonp might he enjoy that ve.ry full measure of tha confidftncfl and the respect of the j I people he had the honour to' represent in ' P-»rliam«»nt. — fAcplauß«».) i The Hoc Mr Millar, who reoeiYed a

cordial welcome, ei'd he not ki.ow how to find words to thank his supporters for the gi---etZr.v; accorded to hi n and fo.- the honour ccnierred upon him by inviting him to be prcscn.. with them. When ho listened to th-s strains of the sor.g with which J the proceeding's were commenced — " Hovr.e, sweet honia" — they app-eakd to him very much, boeai.ae on looking round upon the audience he saw the fa.C'3s of many whom he had kno^ n for ycors. One could not but be proud at witressing a gathering such as that. In tiroes of war he had som his friends, around him, working day by day and night by night. It was a new •exponents to have the old committees kept intact year after year. It was pleasing to him to know chat that was the intention of his committees. His supporters wove taking, a greater interest in his affairs in his constituency than he possibly could himself, and whenever anything was said that they believed to be unkind or untrue they were' ready to come forward in hi 3 defence. (Applause.) In times of war one wanted a strong army, acd he would not say the necessity might not arise before very long for more active work than was being done at the present time. To-day the Government was doing that which was most unpleasant, the most unpopular . thing any Government could possibly do — retrenchjment in the public service.^ .To-day , too,, the Government had, to carry the blame' of a financial stringency which came over the colony -through no fault of the (Jovernment; but as Governments were prone to i claim all die credit tyhen things were good, they must take the blame wherr things were not quite 6O bright. With that knowledge in view, and recognising the fact that the enemy never slept, and that a complete organisation was going on week by week in the ranks of the Opposition, who were gladdened by the fact that it had lately gained a slight acquisition to its strength, let them watch carefully the trend of events. He believed the Opposition was confident ,it was going to carry the country • with it whenever it got the opportunity. But when that opportunity came he was satisfied the Opposition would be Jeft as it was before — a party of «>hreds and patches.— (Applause.) He was convinced that to-day that true Liberalism which looked after not the few but the many was ac deeply rooted in the hearts of the people as it ever was, and that even if a temporary advantage were gained by the Opposition, by tactics well known t<r all ' of them, but unfortunately not so well known in outlying districts, they could not carry on the Government of the country for any length of time. Let one go anywhere in the country, and ' not the -slightest desire was expressed to undo any of the worfc of the past 16 or 17 years. The one cry, wiien there was any cry at all, was not to undo, but to go ahead more rapidly !han in Ihe past. There ■ were -some who wished the Government to go ahead a little faster than it was prepared to go. Now, the Cabinet had been oredited with being a Scotch Cabinet, and Scotch people were always pretty canny. As a- Scotch Cabinet, then, they wanted to see exactly where any legislation they proposed was going to finish. They were not going to pass any proposal simply because it might be popular for the time, feeling certain, that in a year or two it would land -them in trouble. They would do that which was unpopular and in the best interesta of- the people rather than that -which was popular and injurious to the country. — (Applause.) The colony had had years of prosperity, one year sucoeedinig the otheT, until they had all got it into their minds that the prosperity would last for ever. Recently there had no doubt been l a stringency in the money market for a time, but through it all the country had been sound, "as it was to-day. — (Applause.) Today they were in the happy position of having any amount of capital lying in the banks of New -Zealand ready or investment.—(Applause.) It was well to be prepared for trouble, for if one was unprepared for it one might be defeated. His committee was always ready. .At a given signal every man would fall into his place, prepared to do his .work, so it did not matter when the trial of strength came.— (Applause.) He felt remarkably proud when ho realised now his committee was standing by him. His friend Mr M'Kenzie had said that he did not have a committee. Well, that was not surprising, for if they were to receive notice of an election now, and set to work in view of it, Mr M'Kenzie's committee, if he had one, would probably not have covered the whole of the electorate before election day. The session which would be commencing shortly would be a session fraught with many important, questioni?. Their Chief was coming back with tho concentrated wisdom of >he naval and military authorities of the Old Country, and no doubt when Parliament met some dehnite scheme for the defence of the Empire would have to be dealt with. There was no more important question than that of defence. Those watching the trend of affairs "in Europe knew that there was something approaching, and. moreover, they knew the cause of it. Unlrss Britain was prepared to defend her trade she was going to lose it, because tho war of the future would be a war to retain trade, and not a war to acquire territory. He could not at the present time— not until Sir Joseph Ward's return— state what, wa* the particular scheme for defence, but there was no doubt that there would be a very long debate concerning it in Parliament because of differences of opinion in the form of defence that should be adopted. They in New Zealand must admit, however, tha,t the people of the Old Country must know moi;e about the best _ way of disposing of the navy than we did; but that we would take our share in the burden of defence everybody knew. Then, without a doubt, there would also be bnfore Parliament the question of compulsory training, and this would be dealt with during the session. The country had no desire for the establishment of a standing army, but they must admit that it was the duty of every adult male to know something of how to handle a gun. Although many people objected to compulsion of any sort, he could say that compulsory training would be of such a nature as not to injure any person or any business man. Instead, tho scheme of military training proposed would be of \ery groat benefit. There were many other important matters | going on, but he did not propose to refc, , to them there : they were gathr>re : ' together for pleasure, not for business. All he would say waa that he believed there would be questions of very great importance to ihe country submitted to Parlia- ■ ment, and an endeavour would be made to •deal with them all. .Of course, what results would be he could not tell at the present tune; but he would My this: that

whatever legislation was passed would ho> passed with an honest desire to benefit the country as a whole. He was sure that they would themselves realise this in times to come. He thanked Mr M'Kenzie for h'u-- kind remarks in reference to him (Mr Millar). They had entered Parliament together, amd had worked there side by side. He (Mr Millar) had entered the Cabinet first, and it was a very great pleasure to him to find Mr M'Kenzie standing beside him in the Cabinet, where, because of his energy, his practical knowledge of Affairs and his experience, he was of much greater benefit to the country as a whole than a man who could only talk. He had no doubt that they would realise the truth of that" after Mr M'Kenzie had had the administration of the Publio Works Department in his control for 12 months. 'It might have been expected that he (Mr Millar) would give out some ' policy matter, but he did not. propose to do so that evening. The Administration had been doing some very unpleasant work of la-te in the way of retrenchment, but he had a strong hope of better times— 'times so much improved that they might be enabled to take back into the service some of those v*ho had been retrenched. That was for the future to decide. •In this -connection, however, "he ■would, point out that they .were now in a position 'much"' improved on that in which they -were last year, being five millions better off. They could quite realise, therefore, that the Administration might reasonably hope £or better times. He thanked them, for the confidence they had had in him in the past and for the assistance they had , given ..him ; when the time came when he had to relinquish 'the position they had given him he hoped that they and be would be able to agree that at least he had left the country a little better off that when he had started out in public life. — (Applause.) During the evening an enjoyable programme of songs, etc., *was contributed as f ollows : — Song Mrs Brinsley; recitn'ion, Mr Hill; recitation, Miss King (encored); humorous song, "Mx Swan (encored) ; recitation, Miss Cran; sonjr. Mr Braithwaite ; song, Mrs King; and stump speech. Mr Hamil. The social was followed by" a ball, in which a large number of people participated. Mr Sullivan supplied the dance music,* and Mr Kroon was caterer.