Address by Mr Bedford, M.H.R.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7875, 18 July 1905, Page 2

Address by Mr Bedford, M.H.R.

Hi'.' theatre Royal was. fairly well \ lill'tl on Monday evening, when «l. ■ I hi' imitation of the New Plymouth ! Viang Men's Mutual Improvement i Society. Mr Jl. 1). Bedford, M'.JJ.R.. ' it I'ici; the youngest member of the \\ .House and the senior membeiT for H " I'li-.ul'n City, Kim: an uddresfc un \\ ; h-.- political questions of the! day. C 'l'll.' chair was taken by the Miiyoi', a who in a few appropriate remarks w introduccil the speaker ax u member 1 of the You,ng Xew 'Zealand Party <j Mr lii.lfoid, who was heartily «- a reived, spoke for about an hour and I it jhil'f. Qjwl lin. il I'elicitpusi fioulgii 't ioi ireful address gave e\ idencc of his ffifts »ii s speaker, which hair won ' liiin wide recognition, lie quickly :'ound labour with the audieniv, and he- address was punctuated with ap-

plause, lie commenced by expressing ' his pleasure at. the invitation, which :howed that the young men of this ' town, at any rate, took nn interest n the questions affecting the welfare of i In; country. This should lie th< age of young men, he said, and went "ii to sfraw that the zeal, enterprise r i enthusiasm of youth were more Appreciated in America, through which he had travelled, than sodalt e.\perie|::Be and grey hairs. The young men oi this colony had nut taken the prominent part in its political and social Kifo that they, s'houid. "We hq.vo not in Parliament Unlay," he remonstrated, "more members, under the age of 40 than I can count on the lingers of one hand. We could well do with a little more youthfulttess and zeal in the House.'." (Ap> plausc.) He had come, he explained,

to speak oi thy Sew Liberal Party, which was a party of young men, and which, he believed, / was going to exertfise an influence on the politics of this country. (Applause.) Clean and eflicielut administration was one of its' first flanks,, and the means of I accomplishing this' were one or tw« «oiisUtut onal reforuui. Mr Bedford vigorously denounced what he described as the ineptitude and incapacity of the Ministry, with the exception of one, or two of its inonibers. liucupt hud said the great curse of a strong personality was its tendency to gather round it weak men who would raise no opposition and give no trouble, ilisruoli had shown this trail, and in the politics of this country Mr Sudden; was a striking example of tliis character. Mr Sendon dearly loved shvny, declared the speaker, and got round him as Mini sters the, weakest .men'.in his party. "You uru paying them large salaries for odices they are not fitted to lill, and. the country is not getting .'alue for its money, but is iosing in .iep.li'iJiuiilal elliciency," exclaimed ilr llnll'oi'd. I lis party wanted to do away with the element Hhut gave .! ni,in to choose Ms own colleagues. 'I hey wanted the House to elect the Ministry. (Applause.) "We who are elected to represent the country," he taiil, "have absolutely no voice in the administration." The present system was absolutely defective ; the only method of getting rid oi one weak ninn was to Uifu out tie whple Government. They would never get rid of ali.uses till the House had the power of electing the Executive. "It would be absolutely impossible to elect| a, more inefficient Ministry ; wo could not possibly do as bad." ho added, amidst luughter. Another reform was in regard to the Legislative -CuunciL .That House had been "degraded"—that was the only word for it. The Premier had put in that (Jhambef men with no ether qualification than the capacity of "toadying to tho 'tlovernment." (Laughter.) The. new party believed the Lest method was to allow tho Lower. Mouse to elect the Upper House, and by putting in able business men make it a chamber of revision. To elect it iby the people would be a 'big expense, and would only result in duplificution of Parliament. Elected on the popular franchise, the Upper House Would 'bogin to challenge the Ljjwcr House, which should havo all the initiative. With election by eighty members of the Lower House, there could not possibly bo any abuse of power, n.i under the present system <xf nominee! by one man. (Applause.) A great reform the party advocated also was the powqr given to the people If> call

for a referendum on important JijUcstions af the day. It was proposed to put the machinery in motion only on a demand (by 10 to 15 per cent, of the. clefitiort, abd oil tlus llucfii followed in Switzerland. Thus it

would not be lightly availed of. The speaker dwelt on thie educative power of t'.ve referendum. The agitation on important subjects must be u grand means cjf sharpening the intellect of the people, just a« they had beet educated on the "No-license" question. "Jf we had the referendum,' observed Mr Bedford, "wo could get the requisite potition signed immediately for cither the reconstruction of the pa-sent Ministry or t'he establishment of an elective Ministry." Mr lledford dealt trenchantly with the land question.. AH ho could see for the Royal Commission was a bill of costs (or £IO,OOO, as the Commission was, divided on the principal questions. "An<l now," ho added, "we are just where wo started." If the freehold waa granted it jnu,st bo on the present and not the original values. The new parly advocated maintaining what Crown, lands thqro were, as national reserves Tor education endowments, Education aid must be provided for by permanent endowment. The party was against any leasing for 999 yours, but favoured a rational system of re-valua-tion every 33 years. His parly wanted to put a. stop to the practice of subordinating! principles to party. Mr Seddon was u n adept at waiting for. the lead of the people and then coming forward at ttye head. The Premier claimed credit fur the local option legislation, but the Hill as passed by Parliament w u s haii.tly identical with that introduced by the Government. Ilr llulford said his

parly further propesfd lo increase the graduated land tax on estate valued ,ut XDOOO and over, and to make a corresponding reduction in the duties on the necessaries ( if life. 'Th; tux would not touch the farmer, and the reduction would beaelit those who should be relieve.! as much as possible of taxation. (Applause.) The necessaries of life should be made as cheap as possible. The new party did not like the liquor trallic nor the tolnlisnlor. (Applause.) They intended to try and awaken the

public conscience ou this latter subject. The ■totul'isnt.oj- had oncpuragnd the gambling sp|rH. and that uijist strike, a blow at thrift md industry. Thfl people should have the referendum on the sub.cct. An institution like the totalisator, thaL was inimical to the inU'ivsts of the oounlrv, shouhLMot. tuive t|je halo of resrecta bility imparted to jt by State sanctum. In conclusion, Mr Hertford was in Ilia best vain u advocacy ol '•-No-license." lie dealt iroi-Jically and mercilessly with the arguments of thosyj who said '■. No-license" had been a failure. A system thai was retained wherever tried, 'and that grew in favour, must he „ Vn st improvement on iho oW older of things.

the speaker was eiitliusiasticnlh clittcrwjl on taking bin seat, and subsequently was called upon to amwei a. niimihor of questions. On 'lho motion of Mr Green, seconded by 'Mr Unukrodger, a v.ole of thanks was unanimously accorded Mr iledford. The usual compliment to the Mayor closed the proceedings.