THE GENERAL ELECTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 274, 13 November 1908, Page 4

THE GENERAL ELECTION.

Mr. Ualonc continued his electoral e.iiiipaijfa at Hell Block on Wednesday evening, when between 30 and 40 electors were present. Mr. K. l'eppercll presided.

Mr Malone said he intended to give I his hearers the reason of the political faith that was in him. He appealed to them to listen to him with open mind. If they had come with their minds fully made up, whether to vote for him j or to vote against him, it would be a wasto of time for them to hear him speak. In the past, he was sorry to say, it had been too common a practice 1 altogether to VOTE BLINDLY

irrespective of any sense of duty in ' the elector. This was exemplified to him the other day when he heard a conversation between two young men. One of them, when asked which candidate he was going to vote for said, "Well, I don't know the chaps that are standing. I'm going to vote Opposition." And the other said, "I'm foing to vote Government every time." hat was the kind of blind voting that had been so common in the past. He appealed to his hearers, if they had come with such a fixed intention to put it on one and to cast their votes at the ballot with a sense of duty and irrespective in a sense of whether a man was particularly Oppositionist or Government. Otherwise it would be more rational for them to clear away the benches and give up the evening to dancing than to listen to his speech. As far as his candidature was concerned he intended to rely on his own strength, such as it was, and not on the weakness'of other candidates. He was not there to run tho other candidates down. Rather he would kiss his hand to them and say, "You concern me not." He did not intend to resort to personalities at all and he was sure that spirit would commend itself to the audience. He hoped his speech would appeal to their reason and intellect and would not appeal in any way to their prejudices or bigotry. "He "knew unfortunately that even in this campaign appeals were made to the baser part of the electors, but if he could not win in a fair and square way he did not want ts win at all. (Applause.) THB PARTI' QUESTION that had entered so largely into election contests in the past had now been almost cleared away, for the opponents of the Government of which he was a supporter admitted that there was very little difference between the politics of the Government and the Opposition. Mr Okey had even said he had no desire to turn the Government out of office. That had removed a lot of difficulty. It relieved him of the necessity, of speaking (for the express purpose of v pleading on behalf of the Government and attacking the Opposition. It was therefore ' only necessary for him to' place before them his own policy and , they would find that policy accorded | with that of the Government lie was supporting. Now, he was with the Premier in the desire to have done with legislation for legislation's sake. The Leader of the Opposition appeared to think that a new policy should be brought clown every year." As for his (Mr Malone's) policy, he would sum it up thus: He was out for everything that would make for the supremlty of New Zealand and the New Zealander and locally for the supremity of Taranaki and the Taranaki man. Some of them might say that was not what they wantedf but something that would help them practically—someone who would give them roads and bridges. He thought lie would be able to help them in that way, but he thought they should begin with : SOMETHING A LITTLE HIGHER than that. They bad first to look at the historical hi-.t that countries would rise and full, lie was sorry to sav it, bnt he believed that our grand old Mother Country was decaying. He had recently come across a proof of this. Out of a hundred young men who had presented themselves at Manchester for enlisting in the Arinv nine-ty-one had been declared unfit." They were degenerate; and wliv? Jiecauso they were town-bred men and a townbred population became degenerate in three generations. Too large a proportion of the people of England were town-bred. Such a country was doomed and some other country had to rise to take its place. There could he nothing more noble for New Zealand than to rise to take the place of her •-:■ ■■nd Mother Country. New Zealand in i! insularity had particular advantage.-, Great Britain owed much of her po.vrr to her insularity. We had no danger from surrounding countries to fear and at this safe distance, as it were, ne might work out our destiny in a way that would make in the end for the supremity of our country a:id its inhabitants. Wo bad one of the finest countries on tho face of tho earth and in the people we had the making of one of the finest nations. If they looked for an ancestry they could 'havo ne greater ancestors than the pioneers of this country. Those people, he ventured to say. were tho pick and flower of the Old World, and no nation had ever had a cleaner or a better start than tho New Zealand nation. It should be a source of great pride ti: young New Zealanders to be descended from those pioneers. Now the most important factor in the making of a nation was

Sl-rm/KMENT OF THE LAND, ftrcat Britain would never have been the country she had been but for her sturdy yeomanry and peasantry. It was on th« country settlers that the power of every nation was built up. The trouble in the Old World now was that seventy-five per cent, of the people lived in the towns and degeneration was the result. He believed the day would come, as Macaulev had said, when a New Zealander would sit on a broken arch of London Bridge and sketch the ruins of St. Paul's—and might it be a Taranaki man ! To revert to the land question, they' would < agree that its settlement was the para-' mount question of the hour. That led ; him to the question of tenure. For him , there was only one tenure—the freehold. He was opposed to all landlordism, European or Maori. That was not merely becauso he was an Irishman, but because he knew as a practical farmer that no tenure made for greater good to the country or the individual than the freehold.' At the same time he believed an opportunity should lie given to tho poor man to acquire land, and he was therefore in favour of occupation with right of purchase . He believed in restriction of area and considered 640 acres of first-class land was a fair limit. Then settlement, should be encouraged bv; efficient reading, and efficient reading should always precede settlement. For the first time, he believed, a Minister of the Crown had stated that efficient roading was to precede settlement. Mr McXab had stated so recently and the speaker believed he intended to carry out that principle. Settlers should be encouraged by telegiaph, telephone and post office facilities and by good education for their children. To compensate for the hardships of country life lie believed the education of the backblocks children should be, if anything, better than thai of the town children, but hitherto the contrary had been the fact. Any kind of wastrel who was not good enough to teach a town school was considered good enough for a country appointment. Under the new EducaI tion Act, however, he thought a better class of teacher would be available for the backblocks schools. Then the settlement of

, , NATIVE LANDS had to Ik; considered, and tliis was ;, very important matter in Taranaki Ho was opposed to the growth of a Native aristocracy. Ho did „ ot b e . lievo in tlio retention bv the Native? pf more- land than they could use in a bona fide manner. The Native land should not be dealt with in any way that might give rise to a rack-rented white tenantry. The. Government ira< j endeavouring to promote the settlement of Native land, having appointed a Commission to deal with the individualisation of titles, and one. half at least of the land reported on |, v the Commission was to be available for sale to tlio wJiito epople. In spite of this | they heard the Leader of the Opposition crying hysterically, "Jf vou believe in Native landlordism", then vote for tlio Government!" That was iin appeal to tlio prejudice of electors. It was said that the present Government was A LEASEHOLD GOVERNMENT, and it was truo that at tlio time of the bye-election there had been before I the country a proposal to turn NewZealand into a leasehold country, but that proposal had been defeated with the aid of a large section of the Liberal Party itself. It was not true that the present Government was a leasehold Government. There was clear proof of that in a scheme that was to !i_o through the House next session.. Cnder that scheme any five or morel people who wished to'take up land]

could view an estate, then go tit the l Government and submit the matter to | Isotno board. Then if the price was I reasonable the Government would give 1 power to buy the land and take it up 'on the freehold tenure and would guarantee every penny of the purchase money. Here was proof that this was not a leasehold Government. It was on tho freehold tenure that the founda-

tions of the country rested. Then in the making of a New Zealand nation they had to consider the question of population. There wero now a million people in New Zealand. Some people said we should get another million as quickly as possible. Ho did not agree with this. We should have

IMMIGRATION, but there should he a careful selection ]of immigrants. A man should not he selected to come hero simply because ho had money. None should be chosen who were not physically lit. Moreover no class of worker was wanted to como here except farmers, farm labourers and a few skilled artisans. It was wrong to bring in immigrants promiscuously and particularly to bring in a large number of townspeople. Aoovo all they must have purity of race and healthiness of race. He was opposed to the immigration of tho unfit, and certainly he was opposed to the im- ! migration of Asiatics. He admitted as a Christian that Chinamen and Japanese were his brother men, hut he was sure none of his hearers was looking for family relationship with a Chinaman or a Jap. He was not looking for a Chinese son-in-law nor any oblique-eyed grandchildren. linmigrants should bo encouraged to como here from some of the European countries, especially the cold-blooded races of northern Europe. Perhaps a few immigrants from southern Europo | would add an artistic temperament to our national character, but he thought tho New Zealand nation would develop that element itself. Then, having launched this country and got a people of the kind that would make it great it was our duty to keep those people in health. Rules of health should be inculcated in the public j schools. Then arises the question of NATIONAL DENTISTItW . ] All who had families knew that child- | ren of this country suffered dreadfully ] from troubles of the teeth. It was a rare thing to find a sound mouth of teeth in a child, and bad teeth led to naturally bad health, though the strong constitutions and healthy life of tho children did much to counteract this inlluance. The services of dentists wcro ■ constantly required, but what working I man in this country could afford tho luxury of a dentist's bill? Practically none.' For every other kind of ailment hospital treatment was provided I and the principle of the hospital sys,tem was that a patient paid according to his ability to pay. So it should be with treatment of the teeth. DentisI try room's should be attached to tho public hospitals and patients should 'pay according to their ability. Having provided for the health of the people it was tho duty of the State to provide for their education. His views on the subject were that education must be comnulsorv and that STATE EDUCATION

must bo secular, compulsory, efficient and practical. Ho believed in technical education, especially such as would enable the user of the land to get more out of it. Some of them would say he was now talking about scientific farming. That reminded him of the story of tlio scientific farmer who, speaking to his manager of the virtues of a certain manure, said he had enough of the manure in his waistcoat pocket for an acre of land; the manager replied, "Yes, and I think you'll be putting the eroji in the other waistcoat pocket." While he did not believe in scientific farming of this land he thought they would agree with him that the farmers were taking more out of the land than they were muting into it. Something should lie done by means of technical education to remedy this. Another duty of the Stato was the ENCOURAGEMENT OF MAHKIAUK and parenthood. He was not in favour of a tax on bachelors. However, !io thought the State could easily do sc:: .- tiling in the way of insurim; '■' :■>'<•■ pie against the anxieties o: in . .•' ihood. Each adult was said t:i I,! ■■: rth £3OO to the country. That li-i;.;; so, he thought the State might reasonably pay the necessary premiums for aninsurance of £IOO on tho life of every child that came into tho world and continue to pay it as;long as tho ichild was dependent on its parents. I He did not put this forth as a matured I scheme but as a project worthy of seri- | ous consideration. Another way in which the State could help the parent vas by reducing the Customs duties on articles that were necessary for children. Then they had to consider the PROTECTION OF CHILD LIFE.. r lo believed there was not a mother in tho coutnry who would not sacrifice her 'ifo for her child, but there was an unfortunate ignorance among many classes—and ho said it without desiring to disparage the mothers themselves—which led to great mortality among infants. Tho infant mortality )f this country was greater than it Might to be. it was tlio duty of tho .State to endeavour to removo the ignorance that was tlio cause of this.. After a brief reference to local industries, in which ho argued against any attempt to make this country a .purely manufacturing country before 'its time, Mr Malone went on to speak of the relations of capital and labour. This had recently been a burning question in tho country. Men could be heard at the street corners of New Plymouth declaiming against the LAKOUK LAWS

of tile country and saying that the Government should bo turned out for passing such laws. Keally only one of the labour laws was referred to—the Arbitration Act. Defects had been discovered in this Act and for these the Government had been blamed entirely. As a matter of fact that Act had been well conceived. It had been passed through Parliament practically without opposition, and it was unmanly for the Opposition Party now to turn round and lay the entire blame for the failure of the Act on the Government. The Act had been designed to prevent strikes and for some fourteen years it had succeeded. People who had been in the Old Country knew what a terrible thing a serious strike was and coidd appreciate the benefits of this Act. But the Act had broken down I in a minor manner, and the Government had passed an amending Pill through Parliament. To show the earnestness of the Government in this matter ho mentioned the experience of the Hon. J. A. Millar, who, though he had once been a leader of the maritime strike, had been condemned by the labour unions for bis amendments to the law. It was said that tho Government pandered to Labour, but this experience disproved the charge. The aim of the new Act wks to encourage moro conciliation. He had been a. labouring man himself and ho Knew that nine-tenths of the labouring men were sensible and reasonable. They were not out for the heart-Mood of the iinployers, and if an intermediary would come between them and tho employers there would lie little difficulty. tJnfortunately there were a few labour agitators—men such as the union secretary at Blackball who bad deliberately withheld from the workers the offer :if the employers which would probably have led to a settlement of the trouble. These men interfered with conciliation. The attitude of the Opposition to the new Act was churlish. The Party laid, "Wo do not think it will work, imt we'll give it a trial." He (11 r. Malono) thought it would prove bene.icial. .Speaking on the question of LOCAL GOVKHNMKNT the candidate said it had been uncharitably said of him that he should put in some time in an unpaid public position before trying to gain the paid position of member of Parliament. Some of his hearers would remember that he had been for many years chairman of a road board, a member of a county council and of a hospital and charitable aid board. So he had somo experience of unpaid borvice. In his experience of local government work he had found that the local government law was moro or less a Chinese puzzle. Ho believed, briefly, that it should be ::oditied and simplified. Mr .Malono went on to speak of the electoral system. Re contended there should be absolute freedom in the election of a representative in Parliament. Under the old abominable system it had been the custom for a particular man to be selected—bv some cabal perhaps—and the wholo' Party was bound to support him. Jf any other man dared to stand lie was howled down. Now on the other hand there was to all intents and purposes freedom in election. This was due to the SECOND BALLOT Art passed by the efforts of tho Govern

!merit last session. Vudci- Unit lnw it I was possible for any number of men to stand and tlio ballot would show which

had the confidence of the electors. He I would have preferred that Mr McNnb's Absolute liill should have been passed, but even the present | Act gave the freedom that electors j ought to have. He briefly explained | the working of the second ballot. Much had been said about tho "gag clause" of the Second Ilallot Hill. It was urged that the Government had endeavoured to gag tho press and the people. The Lender of the late Opposition cried hysterically, "If you believe in the tyranny of majorities over minorities, .remember tho Second liallot 13ill with its gag clause, and vote for the Government!" This was sheer nonsense.

Tho gag clause had been struck out and it was wrong for the Leader of tho Opposition to make it appear that tho clause was still in the Hill. lie- J sides there had never been a gag I clause, properly so called. Ho contended that tho desire to prevent press criticism between the first and second ballots was on tho same principle as tho law that tho press must not comment on matters under the consideration of tho courts of law. If the second ballot could be taken under ideal conditions it would be taken immediately after the first ballot, but this was impossible. What hardship was it, then, for tho press and the public to go to sleep politically for a week and to wake up in time for the second ballot? Surely people could remember for one week which candidate they had decided to bo the best to represent them. As it was they would have additional turmoil between tho first and second ballots—newspapers supporting one candidate and slanging another, letters written making all sorts of charges against the candidates, and tho candidates themselves trying to rush oier tho electorate in tho week. |lf he were one of those concerned in

a second ballot lie would«.propose to his opponent that both should go to Rotorua for tho intervening week and spend a quiet holiday. Speaking on the subject of finance, I he urged that all further

BORROWING should be/ for renewals or for reproductive works. The present Government was accused of extravagance. People said, "In spito of tho prosperous year you have had, in spite of your boasted (and, it seems, admitted) surplus of over £700,000 vou have added over £2,000,000 to the debt _of the

country during tho year. You are going to tlie bad in spito of this prosperity of tho country." It was true that over £2,000,000 had been added to tho debt last vear. The amount was £2,274,000. Yet not one penny had been added to the interest burden of tho country. His hearers would agree that anyone would like to borrow on those terms. The whole of tho borrowed monev had been put out so as to return interest. Of the total £550,000 had been paid in advances to settlers, who would pay interest, £185,000 had been paid as advances to workers, and they would pay interest; £185,000 had been lent to local bodies at interest for tho building of roads and bridges; £440,000 bad been paid for land for settlements, and the occupiers of this would pay rent; £200,000 had been spent on additions to open railways i and £Boo,ooo'for gilt-edged securities, bearing interest. [Mr Malono asks us to give the following figures to explain how the. total of £2~,274.000 is made up:—The loans mentioned in his speech, together with a small amount of £214 in New Zealand Consols, total £2,360,904. In addition £877,953 was borrowed for geni oral purposes (making tho total £3,238,857) but against this £964,000 of debt was redeinmed, leaving a net increase of debt amounting to £2,274,847.] The speaker went on to urge the necessity of borrowing for the development ot the resources of the country. It was a strange thing that the Opposition leaders who complained of the extent of tho borrowing were always endeavouring to obtain from tho Government some of the borrowed money for their constituencies. They were not (consistent. What mfember would daro to go to his constituents and say be | would not be a party to any further addition to tho public debt? If ho did so the people would say, "We I want you, and tho people would be quite right. This led him to the question I of

ADVANCES TO SETTLERS. The Advances to Settlors Act had been passed by the Government in spito of tho efforts of tho Opposition. Up to date practically £9,000,000 had been lent to tho people of this country in sums averaging £36s—which showed how tho small people had been helped —and tho Stato had made a profit ol £50,000. Tho benefit to the settler was a reduction in the rato of interest. Probably some of his hearers would remember tho time when tho rato of interest on first mortgage had been up to 10 per cent, and never lower than 7. If tho Advances to Settlers Act had not been passed the averago rato of interest would have been 2 per cent, higher than it was. The Government had been able to use tin's system to counteract the effect of the recent stringency in the moirev market. It had gained the authority of Parliament to borrow an extra million pounds for advances to settlers and in tho last two months over £BOO,OOO had been lent out. If it had not been for the prompt action of tho Government on this occasion there would probably have been many an unfortunate man to-dav practically out on tho street. The candidate touched briefly on the question of taxation, tho liquor trade and valuation, lie urged that the valuation system should be altered. Tho basis of the values should be the productivity of the land not its selling value. As to the liquor question, lie was in favor of tliu maintenance of the law as at present existing, but lie would like the alternatives of State control or Dominion option to be submitted <o the people lor decision on a tlireo-iifths majority. Speaking on defence, he said we should not be /satisfied with a haphazard system. The Old Country might he engaged in war, and the Chinese and the Japanese would have a splendid opportunity to say, "We are coming to take your land." lie had some knowledge, of the DEFENCES OF THIS COUNTRY, and without casting aspersions on the moral or the fighting powers of the forces, lie would say tho service was inefficient. The force was a mere handiul. This country had taken seventy years to build up, but in one hour it might be laid in dust. The bulk of tho men of the country had not done their duty in fitting themselves to defend it. He did not believe in a standing army, but ho did believe in "a nation in arms." Every man in the country should he trained to defend his hearth anil home. Something like the Swiss system would be suitable for this country. Some such officer as Colonel Danes should be sent to Europe to niako enquiries, and if he found that some modification of the, Swiss system would suit New Zealand he should make his recommendations and these should bo adopted. Every man could he made an efficient soldier at a cost ' of time not exceeding half a year It was said that universal training would niterlcre with the industrial life of the country, but he considered it would have the opposite effect. It would givo promptness and other qualities that would add to a man's commercial efficiency, and besides it would give men better fibre and better health As to tho civil service, he believed the privileges aind pay should be equal right through, the service. I At this stage some hoodlums outside sent boulders rattling down the roof of the hall. Mr Mahme said he " thought Hell iiloek had a belter character than that. It was (he first lime he bad heard thunder of that kind (luring bis campaign. j Continuing bis address, lie said it had been alleged that the Civil service was being . STUFFED WITH CATHOLICS. As a matter of fact the Catholics did J not have a fair proportion in the service. There was one Catholic in every seven persons in New Zealand, but iii j the Civu Service there was only one | in ten, and most, of tho Catholics' were in the lower paid branches. He had [ made inquiries regarding the number ol Catholics in the Service in New Plymouth. In U, O l>„ st office ti leru were 03: o finals and only 5 were | oman Catholics; the average salary throughout was £125, but the average of the Catholics was £lO5. Jledid not wish to complain of the treatment of the Catholics but it was an infamous thing that the Government should l.e charged with stuffing the service with them. In the other Government offices in New Plymouth there Ki-n 07 employees. Of 24 in the Lands Office there was only one Catholic—the poor caretaker at thirty "hob" a week Out of (he 07 there were 7 Catholics—2 I policemen, 1 warder, I caretaker, 1 | cadet, and 2 higher officials. Out of 84 men in the railway service at New j Plymouth there was exactly (he rhdit proportion of Catholics, if ihree noiiiinal Catholics uero included. Host of these were wages men. Out of the salaried men only one was a Catholic. He was prepared to put down ClO to £1 up to £IOOO as a challenge to anyone (o prove that his figures were not correct, the amount to IK,l K , paid to the New Plymouth Hospital. Coming to the question of LOCAL POLITICS, lie said he considered it good lor a man to make up his mind from the first as to what he intended Id ask for Taranaki should have a deep-sen harbour. In this connection lie reminded his hearers of the credit that was due to the Premier and .Mr Millar for the help' thev had given Mr Okev in passim' the New Plymouth Harbour Hill. These Ministers had risen superior to Party considerations ill helping that liill to pass when, by merely sitting tight they could have killed it. Then there was the need for railways and roads to

open the back country. He particularly mentioned the Stratford-Ongaruu

railway and a railway to Opunake. He proceeded to recite from his published pamphlet many of the local needs which ho intended to try to supply. Jiefcrring to

HIMSELF, ho said he considered the experience ho had had in many walks of life the belter fitted him to represent the varied interests of tho electorate in

Parliament. Ho had been twenty-nino ' years in New Zealand. Objections had been taken to him because he was a lawyer. It had been said there were too many lawyers in tho House, hut in truth there were only nine lawyers there, whilst thero were twenty-four

fanners. It was ridiculous to say that lawyers made the statutes obscure fn order that they might earn an occasional six-and-eightponce by interpreting them. No lawyer would so debaso his intellect. Moreover lie (Mr Malone) had been a farmer (or twenty-live years —fifteen years as a working farmer and ten years as one working through other people. Ho claimed that with his practical experience as a farmer and his knowledge as a lawyer ho had tho best 1 qualifications for a'legislator. Then it was said, "Don't voto for Malone; he is a Catholic." This was an

abominable cry. He advised liis hearers to take people as they found them. They all had Catholics among their friends and they knew there was practically no difference between them and tlio people of any other creed. As broad-minded people they would not listen to this appeal. Rather they would resent it and say that, if a man wos to be attacked on account of his religion, they would vote for him by way of protest. Mr Malone thou defined his attitude in relation to PARTY POLITICS.

Mo said that, if ho were returned he would sacrifice his interests to those of the people, but he would not sacrifice his judgment, his unbiassed opinion or his conscience to any man or any body of men. 1-le would support tho Liberal Government, but, if ho considered the Government was departing from Liberal principles and lie could no longer support it he would come back to the electors and say, "Here is my resignation! Take it or leave it I"' Jn conclusion lie said he would, if returned, render his constituents his best service ill session and out of session and he would do that without any consideration of class, condition or creed. QUESTIONS.

Mr Malono was asked: "Arc you in favour of this cow-tax." In his reply ho objected to the name "cow-tax" being given to the dairy registration fee, lending, people to suppose that it was a tax that increased with the number of cows, like the sheep tax. However, he did not believe in even this small fee. | lie pointed out that there w»s ample time for further amendment of tho regulations, which would not come into force until September next. However, if the fee were riot remitted, he did not consider the dairy farmers would have much to complain of, for the Government had spent £86,000 in providing for cool storage for dairy produce and it would take ten years' of dairy fees to repay that amount. lief erring to the regulations generally he said it had been intended from the beginning to refer them to the Stock Committee so as to give farmers an opportunity to give evidence regarding them. ' Mr Okey had claimed credit for getting them referred to the Committee, buti when Sir Joseph Ward had stated to the deputation on Monday that it had been the Government's intention from the beginning to adopt this course, Mr Okey had not denied it. VOTE OF THANKS. A vote of thanks to the candidate was carried with applause.