SPEECH BY THE PREMIER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 272, 10 November 1908, Page 2

SPEECH BY THE PREMIER

SIK JOSEPH WAIID AT NJSW PLYMOUTH,

Sir Joseph Ward addressed a gathering of over fifteen hundred people at tlie Drill Hall, New Plymouth, last evening. llis Worship tin: .Mayor, Mr. ii. Tisch. j#>sidcd, and .Mr (.'. H. BcJlringer, 1 lie (lovernmont candidate in tile present election contest, occupied a seat 011 the platform. ill introducing the Premier -dr. Xisch referred in most appreciative terms to the action of Sir Joseph Ward and the lion. -Mr. jiillar Hi coming to the aid of .New Plymouth Harbor Hoard Empowering iiill. which was of smell immeasurable importance to this district. lie also referred lo the occason whoa .Sir Joseph Ward, nL a time when everybody believed the country was fast going to the dogs, successfully raised a loan of three millions ou tlie Knglish market, and kept the finances of the country soun i : was an achievement of which any man anight be proud, and the Wellington people were so pleased with his work that they planted three commemorative oaks in honor of the event. Sir Joseph Ward, ou rising, yas greeted with tumultuous applause. He thanked tile .Mayor for his kind introduction, and said he appreciated the sincerity of .Mr. Xiscii's pleasing encomi- ■ uuis.' It had been a real pleasure to ■ liiui to be of any assistance to i\lr. Okey ' in regard to tile New I'lymoulh Jlarboi

Dill, because lie recognised that a growing district like this must every year t become more valuable, and tnat n would require ull the essentials of pro- j gress. These included the renewals of . the Harbor Board's financial arrangements on a sound basis, and a policy of progressive harbor development. He was of opinion that this district had a great future in store, and that its success would be due in the main to the industry and energy of its people. The Premier said he was here by invitation to speak on the public affairs of the colony and iu doing this he would not lind it necessary—nor had he ever found it necessary—to say anything ungenerous in regard to the men who were opposed to him. Abuse could not take the place of argument, and the people would not, he was sure, accept any attack which was unsupported by facts. But when the people had both sides of a question before them, they could well reason it out for themselves. Now, every Government that had ever been in power had done something which allowed the free lance some point to seize 011 and criticise, but the Ministry was at a disadvantage in that it could never find very much that

tile man outside the Government liiul done, so tliat it could return tile compliment. He was the man against whom most of the shots were being fired by t'lie opponents of the Government in the present election. Some very 'extraordinary statements concerning him had been made by Mr. liinc* the gontlcman who was trying to get into Parliament for the Stratford 'electorate, and he would quote that gentleman to show that very often for the want of proper knowledge some outrageous statements were made by public men. Amongst other things .Mr. liine had stated that tlie Government had invested £BOO,OOO in Egyptian bonds in England when the money would have been more advantageously loaned out to the settlers of New Zealand. In the first place, there was no £BOO,OOO invested in Egyptian bonds (applause) and even if there had been the money

would have been put into bonds bearing the Imperial guarantee—a guarantee at which he thought 110 man in this country could poiuk a finger. He considered the transaction was one of the jnost important ever made for this country, and it was unfair to endeavor to get into Parliament upon misrepresentation. (Applause). Now, if there \>crc one place above all others where New Zealand must keep her credit good, that place was London. For many vcars past there had been lying in, London £BOO,OOO worth- of imperialguaranteed debentures, and a year ago these had been paid oil with the sinking 1 fund and £50,000 of other money. The bonds were there in the event of a liil- ' anc'al crisis here, when the money 1 could be obtained at short notice if necessary to maintain the country's sta- ' bility.* What would have happened if lie had not found still way of maintaining our credit in England! Xhev would have been in the position of having no security to oiler if there came times of stress. So he placed before Parliament the desirability of investing £BOO,OOO in gilt-edged securities, to be held against emergency. ■ They had succeeded m getting some ol these securities, including some Egyptian bonds endorsed by the British Government, .held in London without a • penny piece against them, so that now the financial fabric of our country could not be weakened. This transaction, he declared, was one of the strongest and most useful fmancinl operations for the good of the country for many past. Yet it was criticised by this ' gentleman of superior intelligence, and criticised in a manner that showed he was in the most sublime ignorance of the subject upon which he was talking. (Laughter and applause). Mr. Hine's statements were ignorant and thoroughly unreliable. The Stratford candidate asked (according to the "Daily News" report of his Kohuratahi meeting) whether it would not have been hotter for the Government to have handed the money invested in Egyptian bonds and kept in London over to the Advances to Settlers Department to be loaned to farmers who were in such need of it at the present time. During the last 24 months, tile Premier said, the Government had loaned £3,000.000 to farmers and workers as well as carrying on the important public works of

the Dominion. This was a groat undertaking. But the Government wore ! going further: tliey were increasing th; amount of the settlers' «nd workers' loan fumls. To do as Mr. Hine suggested would be doing what was against the interests of the Dominion. He next referred to the attacks niada by nn Opposition organ in Wellington and biassed partisans on the credit of the colony. These 'he scathingly denounced. Attempts to weaken the credit of the country were attempts to damage the interests of thu peoplefarmers, traders and the workers. All sections of the community should unite

in taking a stand against any. sue!: tiling. No matter what their political leanings were they ought to do nothing that in any way would nflVc-l the financial position of the Dominion. At every election one heard a cry from the Opposition that the Government were piling up the national debt.. Yet the people who cried the most were the most persistent in their efforts to secure funds for their own dislricts. (Hear, hear). Tito Government had been very successful in its iinancial arrangements. All the arrangements— renewals, conversions and loan«— had '"been carried out for many mouths ahead, while in respect 01 the loans authorised last session the whole of the money was obtained upon terms which, when they were announced, would lie found to be exceedingly satisfactory. (Applause). They had not leaned upon their banker* nor had they secured the money from the Government Life Insurance Department, Public Trust Oflice, Savings bank, private insurance company, or anybody else in thu- Dominion. They had secured every penny in London. During the past seven months the revenue was .C 40.-101 more than for the same seven months of the previous year, which was the best year in the history of New Zealand, while for the twelve mouths ended October ■Ufh'e receipts were £#12.502 more than during the previous corresponding period. And there was this increase after the heavy remission? that had been made in Customs, etc. Notwithstanding this advance—at a time, too. whin

I llicvc was a general lightness in tile money market, croakers were - to be found predicting that the country's condition was anything lint satisfactory, that, in fact, disaster was atari'ig, tlieni in the face. Kveii if there were cause for alarm, which there was not. they should not wear their hearts on i their sleeves and go about moaning | that the end of the world was in sight..) They should display some of the sturdy I characteristics of the old pioneers, who, when afTected by tile bottom of what was their only industry (wool) falling out, took up the position that dillicnltieb wore made to be overcome and set about overcoming them and not: running their country down and crying 'stinking fish.'' (Applause). The craakm •'tiU trouble was in store for New Zealand.. They had al-

ways been making similar prediction!'. What did they find? Tiie season's prospects were never better. It was a record season for grass: the lambing season was a record: and the price ol dairy produce ivas a record. A good deal of money was being brought into the couutry for investment, wlii!-! of the money to be paid to the shareholders of the Manawatu liailwav Con,puny £300,000 would remain in tire DoniinI ion. The croakers must surely ignore the conditions under which the people were living and the evidence before their own eyes. Otherwise tliey would not talk as they did. Some critics declared that the Government, ill framing the Estimates, simply placed money on the Estimates for certjuu works—bridge wad road construe-

tion, etc.—and then failed to send out the authorities for the work, so deceiving the people, Under the present system the Government- could only send out tun authorities, and if the Public Works Department were unable to construct the works, tho Government could not help it. It was quiio impossiuie to bring expenditure to the same point as tile estimates. It. was unfair to blame the Government over the matter. While they retained their present financial year, beginning and ending in llarch, tile Government could not do other than what they were doing. The only way to overcome the difficulty was to change the year to OTid beginning and ending in £>cplciiibi'r. The Premier next replied to the charges of extravagance brought against the Government by the Opposition. A million sterling was provided for railway construction this year. Ilad the Government yielded to the applications made the amount would have been C 12.000)1(00! They had to realise that in order to develop the country the public works policy had to continue for some years to come. Railways, roads ; and bridges had to be constructed. The : talk of providing a system oi local government to carry out the construction

of roads and bridges was pure .moonshine. it was only the people through the Government in power who were strong enough to obtain the wherewithal to carry out 6uch works, So long as they borrowed money for reproductive purposes, the. true interests of the country were being studied. It was

said that the interest charges the Dominion hai now to meet annually amounted to £2.200,000. lie pointed out that when the Liberal Party came into power tho interest charges wove £1,500,000 per year, so that they were only responsible for £700,000 of the interest. At the same time he did not hold with that kind of criticism., which I ignored the facts connected with the

payment of interest On loans. Most t of the money borrowed was rcproduc- 'J tive, such as that for advances to set- f tiers and workers, for closer setUeuiviii, ] ralway construction, purchase of Bank j of New Zealand shares, etc. i Not one of the opponents of the Go- ■ vernm'cnt could put his hand on a law passed by the present Government that had increased taxation, excepting one. That one was the graduated land tax, which had affected laud owners possessing property of an unimproved value of over £40,000. The number so affected was but :>!,)00, many owning •city properties. Of the 140,000 people owning land only -20,000 (including those paying tire graduated land tax) paid land tax. lie contrasted the present system with the old Property Tax system in force when the Liberal Party came into power. When this tax was wiped off the Statute Book, they freed 8000 farmers from the payment of land tax.

Their opponents made much of the fact that taxation had increased by €5 per head during the term of (lie presOnt Administration. Hut again llipy ignored the real facts of the case. They did not say that the taxation was not borne by the people as a whole, it was a fact that taxation oil such imported things as harness, vehicles, jewellery and luxuries like silk dresses, etc., had 'been increased. 'Now if (those gentlemen were sincere in their suggestions, they ought to go down on their bended knees each night and pray for bad times to come, so that there would be low Customs revenue, and they would be able to say taxation was decreasing. Worse than that, these people included in their £o a head taxation the amount of revenue derived from the totalisator, making that a charge upon the people of the colony. Had any of his audience ever lost a pound 011 the machine and then had it returned to him by another taxpayer? Their estimate embraced also the duty paid on deceased persons' estates and the stamp duties paid on transfers of every piece of property sold in the Dominion. And they blamed the Government for that. The amounts received under these three latter heads amounted last year to £481,000. And now for the other side of the picture. When the Government was, so to speak, on its trialj it had a right to call attention to wiiat had been achieved under its administration. This Government had been of invaluable assistance to most of the people in this country. -Take, for instance, THE RAILWAYS.

Tho Government had reduced railway charges by £900,000 per annum. They had given back to the farmers ill concessions on freights charges upon goods in which they were specially interested no less than £550,000, apart altogether from the reduced- passenger fares in which all shared. Now it was possible to travel from New Plymouth to Auckland and back and half-way to Wellington for the same fare as used to be paid from New Plymouth to Auckland alone. (Applause). And the Government had not forgotten the railway employees either, for it had increased their earnings by £7(10,000 a year. An--1 other million had been expended ill increasing railway services and facilities for tile people. He cautioned people against the Parliamentary candidates who said the Government was not running the railways on business lines One candidate had stated that the first thing he would do if he got into Parliament would be to increase the railway Tates so that the railways would meet the full payment of the interest charges. In passing, he reminded his hearers tiat this Government had reduced the rate' Of interest paid for loans from £4 8s 4d to £3 15s per cent. They had deliberately, clearly and coherently laid down and adhered to the policy" that tliev considered was in the best interests of the business people, the farmers and the workers, treating the railways as a huge 'engine to be used in settling and developing the interior of the country, giving to the business man every facil'ty for sending goods to fhe countrv consumer at moderate cost, and to the vcying his products to the seaboard. And when tho railway earnings reached over 3 per cent., the Government furtliiM' rr the charges lo the people, live could per cent, it they

1 chose, but vvJio would jkiy for it? The people were already working hard for their living and who needed cheap freights to enable them to handle their goods cheaply, to build up homes, conduct their businesses, and t'quip their fauns. lik-reasing'freights to the rates previously ruling would mean fewer trains running, fewer facilities, and (he consequent dismissal of hundreds of railway employees and men now en-

gaged at the workshops in keeping ma with the increasing demands for rolling stock. Jt was absolutely necessary i] our product were to successfully eonv I'i'te ill tlie markets of lite world, that the piodueers here should receive every consideration in the shape of oneap freights. T» return to the old scale of charges would ho a backward move. "Uc: will d<, no tiling of tlie kind," «>e wild, amidst prolonged applause. ''We know what we ,-re doing, what we are going to do. what we have done, why we have done it, and what our policy means, and we will not change it. If anyone wauled to put back the hands of the clock, let liini try it. Jle hylieved that as owners of the po»t iillice, lire and life insurance, a eoal mine or two, the railways, and other public services the State could do much for almost every class of tile community. fire Government was not prepared, however, to go so far as (o advocate or support land nationalisation, which was impracticable, and if attempted, would surely bring tiie country to a state of bankruptcy, tie had been ask-1 ''l to nationalise the land, the steamers, the Jlourinills, the exchange between here and the Old Country, and the d'- ' Intuition in and beyond 'Xow Z'eaUi..: illld at tile same time, with the best o; ' intentions, ho doubt, tiie same peop;: , ill the same communication, asked ti.viii not to borrow any more money. (Laug:i-j

' ie *k ~ , i SVlffilM the (. <neri)nn'!it was currying out a pulicy of paving n fair juieo for lands acquired for settlement. Over a million acres had boon acquired and over 100.0011 I'-i'l been enabled to get on t» the land. I'll,- policy of buying and cutting up i,i g oattttes was good, but it was Hot land nationalisation. To manage tin' liittor they would have, to "go back to tlm days of .Adam and live, and start, .square,'' lo t |, c timo wJlcn n]| the land in Xew Zealand was unoccupied. It might have been possible could say that tiro Government had at any time taken awav a. mail« freehold. and it was not goii>« to. of tins lu> was sur--, that Xcw laud could not have lad its present volume of exports but for tlie new settlers under Die lands for settMniient schdme, and the borrowing by the Government which enabled their lands to be roaded, and so on. It was ]i|c o anv other business. expansion following upon the investment of money. °

pum.io buildings. Xow for the Uiiiiga that they were told tin: C.o\ eminent ought, not to do. i liey were told that thev were very extravagant in public buildings, and if Hie ; .<> vi niicnt had done half the cxtraoro.nr'i'y things thev were reported by some people to have done, tlil.-xl would liavo ItOoli extravagant indeed, i To give some idea of the amount of J

misrepresentation that was gnin<r on lie said that wn.vback solders'wore beiiig told that tliu Xew Plymouth jailway station building bad eost £-10.000, when vhat included (lie cost of the vail-

way deviation and additioaal yarding. Then they (vers told by some that tfcu

Dunediu railway station cost £BO,OOO, £120,000 and so on—it wiu a wonicr this words did not stick in the throats of me people wan uttered them. These amounts were quite incorrect and. ut any rate, they should remember that ut Duucdiu tJie co«L uklucied now yardills accommodation. He also stated that prior to the advent of the Literal Government, over 20 yearn ago, the foundation stone of tlui buildings had been laid and a bridge built tliat no one used, the cost running into fully half what the new build ng cost, lie defended the policy of the Government in erecting public buildings of a permanent nature, instead of running up cheap structures which would need renewal two or three times in a man's lifetime and need constant addition. Business whs growing so rapidly that additional accomodation was being daily required. In the past ten years pratLien lly every railway yard in the colony had had to be re-organised as a natural consequence. And the Government of this country would have to spend further large sums in the next 18 months to cope with the growth of Wellington and Auckland. Was it fair, when everybody was hoping for this increased traffic, to blame the action"* of

tlie Government in providing for it . whilst all the time the Cabinet found itself quite unable to comply with all the requests niadeT 'J UK DAI It V KEG ULATIOXS, He did not believe that one member of the Opposition Itclievcd at heart that the Government had ever tried to do anything to injure the farmer or anyone else. In the teeth of continuous opposition the Government had passed measures of incalculable benefit to the farmers, in getting cheap money lor the Lands for Settlement policy, Advances to Settlers, and so on. The Ministry a Sew years ago had been dubbed "The seven devils of Socialism,"

when it was proposed to borrow money to assist people, and the" farmers first, The Times, in London, with great prescience, was the one great paper outside New Zealand which said the Governmeat was doing a wise thing. Not a shilling had been lost by the Advances to Settlers Department. They had not allowed their rate of interest to go np rien other institutions bumped it up, and they would not allow it to be raised, either. And the Department intended to get more money to lend to settlers. TTie Government of New Zealand was spending a greater amount per head of tlifr population in the interests of the farmer than any other country in the world. Regarding these dairy regulations, he defied any member of Parliament to say otherwise than that I it was the intention of the Government to submit them to the Stock Commit-

tee so that fanners couldj»ive evidence upon them. That position was on record in the House. If the farmers really wanted to do away with all inspection and control, as appeared from the remarks at a deputation which met him that day, let them come to Parliament and say so. It would be impose fiible for the daily farmers to carry on their present system of c.i.f. sales without the assistance given liy the Government in grading and giving- grade certificates. His other remarks on this topic were on the lines similar to his address to the farmers yesterday moriing.

THE LAND QUESTION. Sir Joseph dealt briefly with the ItatST question, pointing to the Land Settlement Finance Bill, which would be passed next session as a proof that the Government was not opposed to men securing the freehold of their land. Under this scheme any ten men couldform themselves into an association, select a farm, and call on the Government to purchase and subdivide it for them, then sell it to them on easy terms, 4</ a per cent to cover* Interest and sinking fund. He would have the (lumber reduced from ten to five men. PROVISION FOR OLD AGE. He referred to the superannuation schemes introduced by the Government to provide for the old age of civil servants, and to the Old Age Pensions scheme. As a corollary to these, a Bill would lie circulated in the recess out* lining a system of national annuities by which any man earning less than £2OO a year might at a small cost weekly provide for the receipt of £2 per week for his old age or for payment from the fund to his widow and orphans in case of his death. CONCLUSION. The Government had dealt firmly with many knotty problems, including labor legislation to protect the honest employer and the "employee against sweating; finding fresh markets for our produce; endeavoring to prevent strikes; and generally helping on social, farming, and business life. Tho Government had something to be proud of.

MH. C. E. BELLKINGER. lie wanted to say that he was not a man to attempt to force a Candida to upon tlie people# in any electorate. He would not say to.people: "Take this man, or that man, as -the Government nominee.' But he had, in hig official position as head of the Administration ascertained to the best of his anility with the means at his disposal which candidate was the liest man to contest tte election and represent the district in the interests of the Government policy and then as a matter of duty he selected and named the man whom he recognised as standing in the interests of the Government. Mr. Bellrlnger was the Government candidate, but, wEile he was anxious to see the Government nominee returned, lie was not going to dictate. It was for them to judge of the Government's record and the Government candidate, and if they believed the work had been good all he asked was that the electors would help along the work of progress and development by giving the Government their support. The Premier resumed his sent amidst loud npplause. Mr. E. Dockrill moved a very heartj vote of thanks to Sir Joseph Ward for his able and statesmanlike address, and a vote of renewed confidence in the Government of which he was t]ie head. Ha believed it the duty of the people to uphold such a Government, and not take any rctrogradu step.

Mr. W. Fitf.patrick aeconded. He was a worker, he said, and he wanted the people to look at the obsolete, dead asid almost buried Opposition on the one aide, and tire progressive Government, the friend of the workers on the other.

The vote was carried by acclamation, and a similar vote, on the motion of the Premier, was accorded the chairman, after which three ringing cheers were given for Sir Joseph Ward.