PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 154, 20 June 1908, Page 5

PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS.

MB. 11. OKEY, 11.1'., AT XEW PLYMOL'TH. There wan a very Small attendant lart night in the Theatre Royal, pro •ably due to the very told weather. Hi Worship the Mayor, Mr. G. Tinli, pre tided. Mr. Okey spoke for nearly two hours Criticising the administration of the Go Cernment aud explaining the action lit had taken with regard to certain proposals brought before the House last sea •ion, and showing the need for a strong Opposition party to keep an eye on the Government administration. He criticised the action of the Government pa; hg 30s a day travelling expense* to JK Shannon as Customs expert, when he never left Wellington. He a !so criticised the grant of £IOO for .Mr. Hogbe.i. Secretary for Education, to spend whilst ■way on a holiday. From these lie drew the lesson that there was need f n • revision of Hie whole system of civtf' servants' travelling expenses, whirl riould be amended. At present some offiml* were drawing np to 30s a da v. S railway laborers were allows' Only a shilling a day when s c „t awav from home. The first staved at th<best hotel; the laborer had to ,t„ v „ one of the huts provided on the line." Mr l)key despaired of getting eno,,»h 27 lo?™*™*I o ?™*™* bridging wl.il.~t >t Was fnttere,! awav jn th| . :|i) .

WRrt the necessity of helping a -trol Opposition to criticise such „ <vsfe, Commeto the Rill, he twitied Minister m clinic with having failed ■ " ta .! ld J '° that his colors we. "•■led to the mast. He also referred ( ta ?"* of the Oovernmei jn connection with the Bill „f 1007, pa limhrly ,n its failure to carrv on tl, r™. te ' compelling f o „ r Opposite speakers to follow one another, flu Government's land porposals had bee puaed into law only by the fiovernmen wreeting a compromise with the differ MM factions in the House He also referred to the inconsisien ™ supporters o, tee Land Bill. Mr. Okey 3r to review fhe provisions of the ne n Und Act, and stated his objection 'C Oe principle of allowing l.i.p. tenants it eororert to freehold at their original fdoe.. He was also against the provi ■umgiving those settlers thcright to conWert at to-day's values, which provision. Of cotme, would never be availed of. He * u against leasehold altogether. as it tampered a settler in securing financial «eommodation. and retarded developgent. If the 899 years' lease was liad. ■ken the latest production, the 33 venis' was infinitely worsp. lie dwelt on the proposed Fair I!e,.t Bui, which he considered unnecessary It were to affect only future rentals, amr tmfiur if it were retrospective in its action. One good point of the new legislation was the power {riven to have leasees' improvements recorded on the title*. This would be of great lwrefil to the lessee, for under the old svsten •nch improvements as draining, stump Injf, etc., were not taken into account bv the values. Another point which he entirely agreed with was the provision made to give preference at lallots fn the landless, married people, and yourg inen. Criticising the valuation legislation, he said that the Government had power to tak« certain lands for settlement at their own valuation, but the owner -who objected to sell a( that price bad tilt Hfcht to plaop his own valufcition on the property and hand it to the Department. Bnt it was strietlv confidential. and could not be produced against Mm if at an Assessment Court he protested that the Government vainer had over valued his property. Thus they allowed a man to put a value above th» ffistrfet valner's for one purpose, and .o •Wear that the valuers' was too high for rating pnrposes. Mr. Okey traversed the Endowment Act, cOmplc.inin? of the tenure of the • ndo.nients. which he considered would never produce anything like the amount (t<|Uired for education, old ace pensions, etc., for which their earnings" were to lie earmarked.

' Another measure 0 f importance wis tlie Tariff Bill. Tltc meml>ers of the Honm Inst. Session were Imtton-liolcd in •H directions bv people who wanted th 'ir own interestn served. There was s redoetion m the duty on snjar. and. upon hi* own motion, dnty on casin» for "il tores was also reduced. effectins a -r.f Ing of £2OO per bore. Th" Tariff BTwa* stinposed to !>e on nonparty lines. Imf it was soon found thai the Government viewed wiHi disfavor those members -who differed from them in this tOnnection. There had been a combination of memliers represcntin-r the mining and dairvins districts whic'i eompeTled reasonable treatment by the Government of importations of for steam purposes. Then the Government paper* brought ont "black lists" "t" the Government member* who voted against the Ifmistry on this point, an.i there wai talk of a dissolution. Some" days later, in the House, the Premier iritroeted his followers that he expected their snf,rOrt in the tariff debate. Next session the House would have lo dismiss the representation question, flfee Representation Commission had r~ commended that three new constituencies he formed in the North Island, and that fhe South Island electorates be .<■- flnced by three. Bat the South Island members were not going to give up their Mat* without a struggle, and were nieavoring to lave the number of ele?Rthe Dominion increased. Tie jjly opposed to that, and would be better to reduce t'ie . half. 1 then explained the Co-ope/a-Factories Bill of last session, iperativc dairy companies the bny lip their shares and t\<> I. ' The Butter Export. Bill, ced, provided a penalty for lling, or exporting butter with 16 per cent, of moisture. That a great hardship in many in hot weather private dairynot get the water out to tint rconld they ascertain whether (hey had done so, not having the prop -r appliances. The Bill as passed into "an concerned export butter only. The high price of foodstuffs. e-pe.-ii! It flour, was liefore the Hons" 1.r4 sc(lion. He had asked the Minister t-. give power to have the duty on flw" and potatoes removed by Order in-Cc.in Itil at a time when it .was neie.-arv i\i the interests of the people. Tlie an-w." Iras that it would not do to place su *i power in the hands of any Minister, i' followed it up in the tariff debate, ail, found such support that the rremie brought down a measure to give som; such relief. But the framing of th measure would make it unworkabh rnfortiraatelr the high prices did no go to the farmers and producers, but t

tv..- '»iver= and «]>eciilntor=. who liou/it hfc.l '<t f'"v. to :'•- :M K ;.. - , =t l iter "H for S< fi.| Gs (»d a - ■■ AXh.it won 1 llr-y lo do to meet this? The Liliral and Uor Leagup favored Slate farm#. P!a'< mills, State doctor?, and S'ato every Jtbhijr. The State could mrrtfo it. <:v fcepl by assisting tlie individual-. Tlirv [conld. as in Canada, erect store- in Iwfcicli tlie Government would store | wheat for tlie farmer;, giringr acknow ' Icdgment'of tlie stock which could 1<; j used in gettin*: money almost as if t!i" ; wheat were isold. The price of butter in this colony had It-en kept down ■*- cent 1 v by tlie amount which was held i*" rool store, and lie thought the fame thing would result in rcpard to wlieat. Coming to labor matters, he -aid thit they had had 12 year- of industrial peace. Imt were now *':h-c to face \\}tb breaches of the ltl«>r laws. He <li ~ agreed with the imprisonment if the Strikers on the West Coast, fie had uc rtmedy to oiler. except that the unionMt» sh'iuld run their own unions instead of being run themselves by agitator*. Tile FaelTJries Amendment .V t w.i one which tonnwd this di-lrict. ' looked easy mnnjih to pas= a law for : Universal half-holiday, i'i ' '' e )>enj-.l could n«t ajrrce on am on ' da v. In -h Hties there was room f or Imlh S.s'in-S i

and another half holiday. Imt in \>- Plymouth »n*| -maMer toun- one hMfholid.iv |H»r wk !»o Thp h:id pluci-d tV i»:Mlrr in t!i.j linnd-i of Mi.' jMnj,!,- an/: tfu\v co»Id l'V jffiti'Mi ;uid |K*II d*Hle onVfldin? the ;<nd luilffcolidny- on ":k md Hip =;mim* day. IWrrrin;; 10 j)iv«»n-,. .V Ann-nl-nicnt, h#» said it had i<ror fonird th:> f •* «-niip!c fOIIM '*» ' r,,i T«i:irri«-! .-win within 12 months s-nd <hat Mm* • >: .<Tnirs had now Tim va- 'oowpU on to ''Aiitf'rir.ini-'Ti;. Ii Tt had Wn rifliinvd tli.-' i!j. .AH Ammdnifnt hid Mr.pp*. f*lyjo-h' H»' hid !•»- «!< n! ' allOHl Tl|p „ K . n , iin , |,,.| lh.' lll.f.ktHj!-,.,. ;« - ].p-.,.r !iv 'v.r.for ity,,,. : tii „ , «i a<l ,.. kj. , /.pinion IWNI, ,1,. ni-n- rjiniins .V liver- i •*•*- !'- I *~ r(:.in amount ft) . bridge*, u-i Tvhvay*. (jf » a

years the Government had raised most of its money in Australia and New Zealand. That was all right when monjy was plentiful, but money was not going to lie plentiful just now. He the Government should go outside P)r e future loans, and not enter into eompci. tition with the men who had to borrow t but could not, as the Government could, . go outside for loans. He touched on tti« j Post and Telegraph Department Classification Bill anil the Public Service Sup- . j era munition scheme. , I Dealing with the proposed Xew PlyJ mouth harbor, he said lie was one of ♦.*.» I largest ratepayers in the must heavily, rated district, but lie could not understand how any ratepayer could opposo the measure. Concluding, he enumerated the votes he had obtained for tin district, being ,£2o.'i2 for roads *nd bridges, ei:SSO f«r tourist roads on Mt. Egmont, and £4250 for public buildings in Xew Plymouth. Mr. Boon moved a vote of thanks tic Mr. Okey for his practical and instnuy ' tive speech and confidence in him ns | member for the district, stating that Mr ( Okey had even exceeded the cxpectiitions of his supporters at the election. This was seconded by Mr. and carried without dissent. .A similar compliment to the chairman concluded the meeting. n