The Taranaki Seat.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 793, 21 September 1905, Page 2

The Taranaki Seat.

Mil C. E. BEILLItIXOEIfS CANDI- - There was a. good attendance at the Theatre Uoyal on Tuesday evening when- Mr C. 15. llcllringer addressed the electors in furtherance of his candidature (or tiro Tarnmiki seat. The chair was taken by the Mayoi' (Mr It. Cock') who anticipated that the election campaign in Taranaki would In! contested in a fair, friendly spirit. Mr Itellringcr, who spoke for an hour and a half, got 'a very good hearing and was frequently applauded during the course of his address.

PERSONAL-. He explained- that 'ho fell no apology was 'iveudrd in.coming forwa.nl, as when ho contested the election nine years ago he intimated that he would at some future time* seek'their suffrages. He was there to defend what he believed to lie the highest, truest and best form of Liberalism. Ho pointed out what he believed to be decadence in true liberalism of late years fhrough slavish party, government and '"an autocracy which is inclined to run to seed." He protested against the Premier taking it on himself to say that any man should bo tire appointed candidate and the only Liberal candidate for any constituency. (Applause). Any man who" felt he could serve the community had the right to stand, and he believed the colony would assert that right. He felt that many of the people desired new blood in the representation of this district, and he would contest the election to the finish. He objected to party politics interfering with the. right" of menibterfl to exercise their own principles ami judgment, for representation became! a farce when one man only ruled. He believed politics could be kept clean and thai, if tho colony was to advance we must have clean and sound a-dministrat'ion. .Generally' speaking he endorsed the policy of tho Government, which had placed many beneficial liberal measures on the Statute Hook. At tho same time he was not prepared to become tho stave of any particular party, and would only support the. Government when he believed' it to be in the right,. If it came to a. 'division hi, would support t'he Covernment., as'lie did not. think the Opposition was in true sympathy Willi Literal measures and therefore could not bo entrusted with Mm administration. What con-' servative element still -existed in NewZealand politics was ranged on the Opposition side.

FINANCES. The candidate proceeded to Oca] analytically niid/nt some length with thu finances of tOm colony and said prudence must be 'exercised in regard to borrowing, though ho recognised llwt a certain amount of borrowing was necessary. The colony was in a scvuiil fmancinl condition, and on I h« whol« (lie administration was to he commended. On the question of customs revenue, 'however, the candidate pointed out fhat during the present, tlovernment's regime taxation had grown to £3 per head of population, an increase of ]Bs, and he considered that the Government >hou!d make a reduction on the necessaries of life, so as to make living as cheap as possible. He thought the liir.e toad come when there should he an increase intra* tax on large estates on the. graduated scale, and approved of the policy of the Government acquiring suitable estates for close .settlement. There was at present an enormous discrepancy ■l»utween the values placed on large estates for land taxation purpose* and the values plaml on them hy the owners when they wished to sell.

LAND (iVKSTION. dealing comprehensively with the land question the candidate said In helievid in Hie -freehold if a man wished to obtain it, but favoured those who wished to take up land on the leasehold system being- allowed to do so, as in many instances it afforded facilities for the man with little capital. lie -was, however, opposed to -I'he lease in perpetuity. Those who 'took up land on lease should be permitted to acquire the freehold on equitable terms when they were in a position to make the, change of tenure. (Applause.). In bis opinion those who were opposed to freehold were not practical men tyiiti Iheoris-rs. Tie re should be a limitation on areas, lixwl -by the special circumstances -of each district, in ordev to guard against the undue aggntjMion o! properly held by onu individual, lie favoured the system of advances to sit tiers being extended ; if land reverted back to mortgagees it should be to the Oovcrn-m.-nt. Any -holder who )md already the full amount of land and acquired further land by means of mortg-age should he allowed lo dispose of th« surplus area within a fixed period, say live years.

ROADS. Mr Itcllrmger niacin out a very strong; case for the back blocks settler iii regard to roads, and said in the interests of humanity it was imperative that a considerable sum ol money should be spent in Tarannki at the earliest opportunity. H 0 thought, that if all tire members had worked as hard as Mr Jennings Mto district would have fared better. Vigorous ami united action should lie taken to force the. Government tii keep all the promises made to the district. If New Vlymoiith was to lie made the port of tlin district for both Hie coastal and ocean sleaniei's that it should rightly he, we must have roads in the country and every means of access to the port. The question was one of great import mice, for every endeavour should he made in the interests of i| U . settlers, ami to secure to the port the trade to which it was entitled. The town and country must work in unison for their mutiiual b-enefit. The practice of putting money on the Kstimates for roads and then not expending the full amount, was criticised by the candidate. The amount spent last year for mailing facilities in the JYcmicr's own eleelorate equalled £2 17s per head of population, ami in Tarannki only Ms per head. Although the amount set down for the ensuing year was a considerable increase,the candidate, quoting (|# figures, held that the sum was totally insufficient for Taranaki's growing rOquiromenls, and that next winter the stale of affairs, unless the (lovcrnnieut was persuaded to open the purse strings a little wider, would be almost as deplorable as they had been during (he past, svasoit. The Oovrrnnieitl proposed i o spend £2t:i.oi>o on buildings, and while not averse to the necessary buildings being erected (or ('he proper conduct ot the public service, he contended that a much more pressing mailer was the provision of roads for the set Hers.

VAXIATIONS. Tlw speaker considered t'hat to a lai'to extent the complaints of fanner* that the unimproved values placed on their properties were too high, were .quite justilh.il by facts. Jt. was »• legitimate contention that where the roads were constructed liy money i | obtained under Mie Local Bodies Act, and the land made liable for rates, accordingly, the added value accruing Ihrough this improvement .should not he included on the land values. Many of the settlers, also, contended that improvements made by their own efforts were not fully assessed when the Covcriiiuent was fixing the capital value of property for the purpose of Advances, lie 'believed there would be a -more satisfactory, state of affairs when the Hoard of Assessors was composed of practical men., as proposed. Any valuation arrired at other that on '.he basis ot what the land would produce was fictitious.

HAILW.VYS. The candidate considered that the (! overt! men! should push on with the railway construe! ion more rapidly. We had the right to ask I hat live railway from Stratford slnuld be more expi diliously put through, oth-M-wiss ■ ttuyf that IU? stefk e«S {«

rough country the settlers would have to wait an unconscionable time 'before the line wouhl be of much service to them. Jlc considered that the Opunake line should receive the favourable consideration of the Uovcrnmeut in view of tho tjcnefit to settlement, and that with the port faeil itijs here it was only a, wise policy to have as many profitable feeders to the main line as were justified. If Iwe pulled tog-ether we had every ' chanco of getting; our reifuircrriunls 1 fulfilled.

LAHOl'lt AND CAPITAL. 'Hie speaker considered that labtour was justly entitled to combine awl secure for itself the best and richest award possible. In the past, howerer, the fact had been too much ignored that the interests of •the. em' ployeo and employer were largely identical. While upholding tho principle of arbitration-, which had done much good, tue candidate thought one of the weaknesses had -been that in too many cases the minimum wage had been fixed too high, -and the employer was compelled to make it the nvaxinuun. 'Phis left no room for advancement for the good .workman, whereas he -believed every man should be pai-d according to merit. Tie Ijelieved a satisfactory system would be to appoint a committee, consisting of two representatives each for the employer ami employees, to grade the men and fix the wages, their award to be registered at the Court (Applause). This would do away with the system of permits, and the discarding by the employer of the less competent workmen.

TRUSTS. He apprehended danger from the octupus-lik'e trusts which were already feeling their way, and in the interests of the industries concerned ho advocated protective legislation. "SHOrS AND OFFICES ACT. The new Hill eliminating the clauses that had led to so much trouble met with his approval. While seeing that no injustice was done, tho less interference -between employees and employer the better, CO-OPERATIVE LADOI.R.

Although recognising thai l-ho Government was in duty jbotind to make some provision' for tho surplus of unskilled labour whilst public works were -being carried out, he conshlereil thai the co-operative system was not atlajptod for railway construction as il was far too slow, and loss (was entailed by interest having to'be paid on the cost of construction before a line became wage earning.. He believed that railway work should be done on tho contract system (Applause). Co-operative men could lie employed to better advantage an some other kind of work..

CIVIL SERVICE. To have an efficient Civil Service ah appointments and promotions must be earnvd 'by merit, and the "backstairs" influence put a stop to. It was, also, to the best interests of the service that a sound superannuation scheme should be •instituted. Dealing with increases, Mr Ilellringer sai'il they wvre generally made at the wrong end. Instead of highly-paid oll'idals, it was the large numbers ol men, such as in the railway service, who were scarcely getting a living wage, that should receive consideration. No doubt it was cheaper to give a few increases at the head of the service than an all-round increase at the foot, but the .latter was undoubtedly the more necessary. As the railway finances were satisfactory the matter should ire brought forward.

KDI/CATION. Kducatit.ii Boards should he elected on the popular vote, in place of the present system. The powers of school committees, which ho knew Inexperience to -I*.' confined at present to -trival ami insignificant .matters of detail, should he enlargv.l to feivo : the committers .more voice in t-hc.wl ministration of schools. The present system of ■training' teachers was inadequate, and hu advocated the establishment of Normal Training Schools for teachers. Every effort should he made to see that'children in the back-blocks had school facilities where practicable, and at the same time teachers who went to the back-blocks should have better pro vision made for their comfort. The time had come when the quest ion of all. As the time would come when real earnest. for the future of our industries largely depended on the manner in which the people were equipped to meet outside competition Continuation j and evening classes must be widely established and secondary education made 'available to all. As the time must come when the colony must farm on belter methods, no effort must be spared to advance agricultural education. The attempt so far was commendable 'hut Us importance should be impressed more, emphatically on the farmers and the general comiisunity. As means of communication -increased outside—th« opening of the Vannma Canal would have a ! considerable effoct-the colony must l|s. prepared to face a much keener competition than hitherto In order to ensure a continuous revenue lor educational purposes, should the hivanccs- become straitened in future, he advocated -the immediate endowment of large reserves, the revenue to he. solely devoted to this object. (Applause). LICENSING' QUESTION.

On this question the electors we.* well acquainted with his views (\ n . I'lause). He believed in the peope Si'n,"'?* 0 * c.liol of the liquor trade'as pos- „ ' ,", , "iT pk ' w, ' rc on, - v ««!"■ »S now to tho power they held in ™l* ,n 8 Y S ° ,0 "fe" a ««'« trade as legally licensed, however, l»r was prepared to see those engaged in it «, ted fairly and not persecuted. eat,ng „,,. t .l, prohibiUe,,. he said hat last year ~,, America a ifarea .as nrge as New ZWilaivd had been »ought under xliroct no-licensr, tend <> a large extent loci option was U'coming, iir,„ij] established., ]r c pointed out to the electors that in voting for prohibition it was onlv logical lo vote at the same time for a candidate who would support their views. (Applause).

TOTAUSATOH. He .had no hesitation i„ s nV i„g that tiro totalisator must cven-tuallv go. Gambling was seriously ■iuterfw"iK with the thrift of the people.aml the cloak of respectability cast over the loealisator by.Hie State must bo lilted. OLD A<JR rKNSTONTK. He was thoroughly in acconl with the action of t . h e (,'oveniment in increasing the old age- pensions, and hoped ultimately to see a system whereby the people contributed to a fuml for a universal old age pension. ELECTIVE KXECrriVK. Mr nellringer spoke in favour of an elective executive. Though the majority would necessarily predominate in the election, the system would still ehniiirate that which was derogatory in party politics bv giving Parliament a direct control'over the Cabinet. Tlie Liberal party was not satisli.il with the constitution of the pr.scnt dovei-nine-nt, as with the ex-' ceptionof Mr Seddon and air .Joseph the Ministry was deplorably Trei.k. The efl'uct of the svsteni he ad-.ocated would bv Io place on the Hench the strongvst set of men

KKr'KIiKNTHM. lie had always been a supporter of Hie referendum to Ihe people, as he | believed it would bring about reforms, and educate the people to a sence of their responsibilities. ri'PKlv HOI/SIC On this (|Uestion lie favoured the principle, or the Lower l-lrus,, electing the members to the rppor House, as (he selection would then be on 'iyDISTRICT UI'XII'TUKMEXTS. Efforts .were necessary to develop Uni general attractions of the town, to secure a certain amount of con-j Iril in.regard to the foreshore, mill! I" '■• nre Mnrsland Hill as a reserve ' for the people. The smccss of the I town depended largely on securing the trade ,f J he'district, and making I this port the •distrilMijijj etwtrc, Hit;

Government ■deserved thanks for assisting the oil industry, and should' now be requested to assist in 'developing the potentialities of the iron sand deposits. The Premier must be asked to redeem the promise, made in I November, 1902, that the iron in- | dustry would receive attention at tno , hands of the Government if privato enterprise failed. (Applause).

CRITICISM. Tpie candidate went on t« criticise Mr Seddon's weak attitude on the land question, which was splitting the party up ; the unwarranted pleasure trip tc Cook Island, which cost the country over £4OOO ;i and the indecisive result of the Land Commission, which 'had cost over £IO,OOO. This result could 'have been foreseen from the start. CONCLUSION. In conclusion the candidate, in a neat peroration dwelt on the possibilities ahead of New (Zealand with wise legislation awl good administration for the welfare of the people. The responsibility was east on the electors to vote for the principles which they believed right in themselves. (-Lend Applause)'..

In reply to questions' Mr liellrlnger favoured fire brigades of the colony bjeing; placed on a tjletter footing. He quoted the figures to show that Spolswood had been purchased too do&rly, and the price piled up until the holders could do no good with the land. Ho thought it was too far away from the town for workmen's dwellings. If the Government or the Harbour Hoard desired it, he would not oppose cheap prison labour being utilised in the work of oxtending tho 'breakwater. (Personally he was not in'favour of the Bibjc in schools but was in accord with a referendum being 'taken' on the subject. The Mayor mcved r a vote of thanks to the candidate for his address. This was seconded by Mr Sadler and carried with acclamation. The Mayor was thanked for presiding.