THE GENERAL ELECTION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 277, 17 November 1908, Page 3

THE GENERAL ELECTION

MS. MALONE AT THE THEATRE. The rain which set in shortly befori 8 o'clock last slight, driving the crowd indoor from the temperance orations at Brougham street, and augmenting an already very fair audience at the Theatre Royal, secured for -Mr. \\\ G. lialoae a really good house for his tin ill shot in the campaign. Mr. J. J. El win presided, and brielly introduced Mr. Maloue, who remarked in opeungj that he did not intend to cover all the) ground of general polities, because iicl had no doubt most of his hearers had already heard or read them. New Ze-i-j land at present did not want general politics, and though he had good reason for the political laith in him, he could still be a good "bushranger" for the development of Taranaki and a vigorous public works policy, in his previous speech, he had omitted to mention three matters—the liquor question, defence and the civil service—which hn

IVUKV uuu me vivu seivce —wiiicu lie now proposed to deal with. Although it laid been alleged, he had aever evaded the LIQUOR QUESTION, i i« everyone who had read his manifesto knew. It was really the only ' burning question, and he was son, ,o( say it had been used as a lever to h ;lp certain candidates. On no question did he hold any extreme views, except this, that Taranaki was the best pro vince in the world. The electors had three gentlemen before them—himself and Sir. Bellringer supporting the Government, and Mr. Okey supportingwell, he coulil not say niiat, :>ir though Hr. Okey was asking the electors to return him to Parliament as an Oppositionist, he stated he did not wisii

to turn the Government out of office. The electors were accordingly in a poli-, tion to say that Mr. Okey was partial to the Government at tie end, ana therefore all they had to consider was which was the best of the three men for them and for New Zealand. lie did not-intend to endeavor to induce them to vote for 'him by telling them not to vote for the other candidates.

He would not ask them individually to vote for him, but after tUey lueard what he had to say he hoped they would vote for him. Returning to the liquor question, he believed the present law should be maintained unless u; three-fifths majority the people declared for State control or Dominion option. That should be enough to make clear his views. As regards himself, for the last seven years he had practically a complete total abstainer from both strong drink and tobacco. He did not think those things were good for-himself, but he did not think he had the right to say that thiey nc not good for any other man. He had amongst his friends many who lik:d a 'glass and a pipe, and after many years' acquaintance with them, he could not see they were any the worse lor it. Perhaps they did not have as much wind as they ought to have, however. But setting aside that consideration, he yielded to no one in his ab-

horrence of the evils arising from the Rbuse of strong drink, and tue need to cope with the evils, orace the by--election lie had carefully read all tte literature he could get on the subject, and listened to the views of tlw representatives of both sides, and ngntiy or wrongly he had come to a concluded opinion on the matter. He believed that State control would bring about an immediate improvement in conditions, and eventually bring to an end the abuse of strong drink. On this

question were arrayed the three parties of the Trade, the Moderates and the Reformers. What were the latter after? They said they were not out to fight the hotelkeepers and the Trade, but the drink. In this war, the Moderates stood doubtful and indifferent, but if they only threw their weight on the side of the drink-reformers, strong drink would soon be routed. If they threw their weight with the Trade, SVrealisation of reform was to be shelved. The reformers should therefore appeal to the reason, not the passions of (he inoderates, who thought local option too revolutionary, and that compensation waa morally though perhaps not legally and strictly the right thing. -No one could believe in moral reform by. Act of Parliament. In all such matters they must proceed by moral suasion, back;d by the moral support of the majority of the people, it was often said that the onlooker saw most of the game, and if he were generalissimo of the reformers, he would adopt the platform he had just laid down. The Trade aturally fought hard for their houses and their property, but if the cause of the Trade's lighting wjere avmoved; jthe'irj opposition would soon c case. Compensation ia a way might not be strictly correct, but there was undoubtedly a feeling amongst the Moderates that it was correct. The electors, thereto-e, should return to Parliament men pledged not to vote for State control, but pledged to have submitted to the people a referendum on State control and Dominion option, as well as the present issne. That was his view. What would State eootrol immediately do? It would get rid of one side in the fighl, and leave the reformers to fight the drink aloae. The man behind the bar would not be influenced by the profits of the trade. At once the temptation of the man behind the bar and the necessity for encouraging drinking would be removed. There would be Dure liquor and no temptation to break the law. He therefore believed that under this system there would immediately be a great improvement He did not believe, however, that that would satisfy the people of this country; it would not satisfy him; but it would soon convince the large section of Moderates whether the drink itself was the evi l ,

Or whether it was the method of distribution. II the degradation and evils of the trade still existed, the Moderates would know that the drink itself was in need of reform. Moral suasion and education would bring a realisation of that about, aB revolution could never do. All tlve leading temperance reformers he had consulted agreed with !him in believing that every word iie had said was right and true, but their

fear (and he did not agree with it) was that wjien the people of the country got the profits of the trade, no matter how satisfied they might be that the abuse of it was a curse, they would not give it up and deny themselves to the loss of their pockets The other alternative he proposed was Dominion option. If the Moderates would not rote for State control, he believed they would vote for Dominion option when ■they would not vote for local option. He thought New Zealand was peculiarly fitted for- this experiment. It was , isolated from other lands, and peopied only by a million of inhabitants, .-■• l. should present no difficulties in giv : .ig the experiment a faithful trial. (Applause). The question of DEFENCE

was also a somewhat burning one, although the Premier was somewhat inclined to treat it lightly. He did not agree with the Premier that New Zealand was never likely to be in danger of invasion. Let them think of this ialrest land °n the Globe, capable of carrying 30 or 4G millions of people, and ye*, holding only one million. Think of China, with her 400 millions, groaning

unto poverty, and dying l,y thousan d of starvation, and Japan in a somewhat similar condition. If England were ever involved in serious war, what could we do to check'an Invasion of Chinese or Japanese. He thought it forced upon New Zealand the necessity to prepare for war, for to be prepared for war was the surest way to obviate war. That need not mean a standing "army, but" a nation in anns was quite a different matter. He believed that soma such system as existed in Switzerland, where every man was proud to be a capable gold far, trained, he bcliewL in six months out of hi 3 lifetime, might well be adopted in New Zealand. He did not say it could be done at once, but inquiries should be made, and our experts, men like Colonel Davie., who were conversant with our requirements should be asked to report oil the working of the Sww* system, lie did not believe it was true that a form of national service would in any way interfere with industrial enterprise. lie believed on tlw otlier hand it would

strengthen tire national fibre. Wheic | every man was liable for service he; would approach national matters with some sense of responsibility, not jingo-1 isticallv. Rather tlnm interfering withj industrial organisation, such a system fihould improve it, and commercial and industrial efficiency would follow bev cause men would have learned discipline and habits of orderliness. Any em-

ployer could say that such men were the best workmen. National training would further improve the national health. He believed as regards rill.' clubs that they, too, had some 'effect-, and should be encouraged bv inor- free ammunition. Target practice was always at known ranges, and was mo test of shooting under service conditions, A Maori was once watching 'i rifleman at target- practice, and he was putting on bullVevcs nearly everv shot. The Maori *vas asked what he thought of the performance. He replied: "Kapai,' but added reflectively that "the target, he no shoot bark!'' CIVIL SEIiVTCE.

Mr. Malon* said he had a little to «av concerning the civil service. Tie | Relieved that pay, hours, and privileges should toe on the same basia throughout 1

the various branches of the service. This was not the case at the present tune, the railway men, for instance, having concessions when travelling that did not apply to the Roads Department, fkore were also inequalities, too, in tin- matter of leave, ami titer,: were too many ' u Intc-ltcaded boys" in the ser-1 vice. Under-secietaries,"in his opinion,! 11.11 l too milch p awor- If lj 0 I would do his utmost to equalise the' condition*. Coining to j I I'UACTICAL POLITICS, no claimed to be a practical man. aa.ii ne knew, as bis hearers k.u-w, | though Taranaki could be made to ail-' vance considerably it could not be done

I . . J " oe uone n , ." l day—it would take time. And while they expected progress and were hoping for it, it was to their advantage to return to Parliament the rHit man to guard and protect their interests, and help in the progress of this fair district. But wnat was due to Tara-iaki was due to the whole of the colony, file present was ail excellent opportunity to carry out the Premier's t,Lia<rj S - ■ tiou for

LEGISLATIVE REST, ihey had arrived at a time when there , was very little or no difference between I of the (parties. Leadin" Opposition papers, the local papers, and , Mr. Okey said this, so here was a , f hancc - ur g«l by all thinking people to cease legislation for legislation's sake. There was no need for the wlmle country to be bothering about theoretical measures. Wnat was required was legislation to give the whole colony and laranaki in particular, a fillip'

ihere were three things that would contribute to this-A legislative restI development of the land and a vigorous public works policy; and immigration, lie was right here to drop more or less the theoretical side, and make straight for the prosperity of th* whole of our people, those of New Ply mouth and district in particular. To get that Taranaki had to be elevated to her proper place, for she was not thefe now. Taranaki should be a leadin« province, and New Plymouth a Wnl

equal in importance to Wellington and Auckland. And what was the position now? TJie whole of Taranaki had a population of only about 40,000, and New Plymouth was little more than a village when it should have from 20.000 to 40,000 people. But, instead of that, we had Wellington and Auckland making of this fine dairying district a fine milch cow. They were taking and had taken our trade, and retarded our ad-

vancement. They had tricked—aye, swindled—Taranaki out of the Man Trunk railway, which should rightlv have connected with the present line to Taranaki. Those cities got their best and keenest men out in the fnld with the object of making for growth no matter at what cost. And we should i get the keenest and best man out j«r I Taranaki. (Applause). He trusted] that the

HARBOR LOAN POLL would be carried that day, bringing within reasonable distance that most important thing, a deep-sea harbor. But the port alone could not make Taranaki or New Plymouth. The port must be fed, and to do this the back country needed to be developed. If returned, he would work vigorously for the complete cutting up, roading and making of our back country. Then what a different

picture would Taranaki present! There were in Taranaki some hundreds </f

thousands of acres of land still practically waste. Settle it, and what an increase of trade must follow! Now,

was land settlement and a vigorous public- works policy practicable? IT .MEANT MONEY. Some people said it was a horrible thing to add to the public debt, but if the money were borrowed for the development of the country he would say such a policy was right. He Lelieved that the time had arrived w!i n New Zealand

could safely go in for a second laud, public works, and immigration polijy. Sir Julius Vogel bad managed to raise ten millions for these purposes some

years ago, and he saw 110 reason why they could now get

TWENTY MILLIONS. Of this, Taranaki ought to get two millions (laughter), and that would

fulfil our wants. ]3nt this money must be ear-marked for reproductive works. He instanced the fact that right through the past seventeen years £400,000 an nually was transferred to the Public Works Fund from Consolidated Revenue. It was urged by some people that we should wait and develop the country out of revenue, but that was not an economically sound policy, any more than it would be policy for a bush farmer 011 a thousand acres of bush land to depend upon revenue to develop tilland. It would lake a very long lidh', wouldn't it? But if he liac'l an assured revenue of £4O a \ear, wouldn't lie | be quite justified in borrowing 1(300 at 5 per cent, for felling, grassing, and stock. That applied to the position of the Dominion at the present time, and the £400,000 would pay interest 011 the ten millions that he suggested could be borrowed, and there would !>e 110 increase in the interest burden. Of course, Parliament would hardly be brought to his way of thinking in ne session, but he was prepared to-make the attempt, and there would be this little inducement to members—that each would have a nice little suift for his own district. He reckoned a million and a half of the ten millions should come to Taranaki, and it should be *peut> in cutting up and roading our waste lands and bringing a

number of the right ela<s of settlers in TARANArd'S REQUIREMENTS. 111 roading we should go on and complete the Main North road, Moki road,

junction road, Rawhitiroa loan, .mil other arterial roads, this being estimated to cost about £330,000. A railway should be constructed between jnsw

Plymouth and Opunake by way of the coast, and such a railway would be o; real benefit to tbe settlers in reducing freights. That land required manu."e, but now it cost 23s 6d per ton to cart to Warea. Were the harbor completed and a coastal railway laid down the cost should be nearer 7s Gd a ton. A railway line between New Plymouth and Jlokau should be a profitable undertaking, and ought to be construct;!, so as to bring the splendid household coal of that district cheaply to the

consumer. That line would pass through excellent country. He would connect

Opunake with the present railway system, junctioning at Stratford as the nearest point to the deep-sea port, whither the trade would naturally How. On that account, he believed, the li'.ie would assuredly go to Stratford, and not to Kltham or Ilawera. The STRATFORD-ONGARUE RAILWAY

was not one of the works that should be constructed out oi our share of this loan. If there was one tiling that the colonv as a whole owed to Taranaki it

was the completion of this railway at the cost of the country. He thought that his programme had absorbed about a million of the proposed borrowing.

KOADJNG. Roading mu-t precede settlement, but where were they to get the men to I make the roads! That brought him to immigration, and lie urged that the Government should encourage young mn of the northern European countries to come to this colony to work at roadmaking and railway construction for the development of the country, on the

under-standing that they would have opportunity them&elvc* of taking up 1 some of the land. Not money, but | readiness to work and health r.ndj strength should In* the test of these 1 immigrants. Should they not be in aj position to purchase land, he would ex-, tend to them the provisions of the un-j proved farm settlement scheme, adding i their right to obtain the freehold. (ApSuch a policy of development ( would bring prosperity to every trades-: man, merchant, farmer, manufacturer,» worker, to every ]>arent and to every! child in the province. Such a policy would have the effect of attracting people to settle here and preventing

the exodus of our young men to other parts. Even the back country of Taranaki could be profitably farmed with wool at sixpence a pound, and dairymen could be assured of reasonable profit as long as butter brought ninepence a pound —ami it was hardly |ikel\ now to fall lower than that. Some people would doubtless oppose b'w bor-1 row in" 1 proposals, remembering tha af- ] tor Sir Julius Vogel's loan was raised | Iwe had 14 years of depression. Tlv.-r.'

was no comparison between our pjeseit conditions and those then existing. Mr. Malono. returning to h>eal interests urged that with the completion of the harbor every endeavor should he made to have New Plvmouth made t"e lirst port of call for Vessels arriving in New Zealand from Australia, ami the last | port of departure for Sydney, pointing, I out that this avouM be a gain to the !' district from the fact that many of the wealthier passengers would land and stav here, and that the replenishing of the ships" stores would be profitable to bu«-in>'->s p(oiile and our small farmers. TOURTST TKAKTO.

The Tourist Department spent C4»V 000 last year on tourist rer-uts. ad how much did we « I i-j: (A voire: Nix!) No, ' -ni v' rt MO, through the sitting m'ember, and M\ Okey wasn't ashamed to ow.n, it. although the Opposition always howh-d at the expenditure for tourists. But more should be spent on Alt. Egmnnt, primarily in the erection of a deceit accommodation house, which would be of immense benefit to the district. 1 He thought- it was a fair thing to

■ throw the Kiulnke ranges op.n to pectors for minerals, whose operant, :•> I would make imly a little icnipur.iry ii feet on portions of the scenery. If'liiey J were luckv enough to iind gold tlier and he had his doubts—a would be i great thing (or Taranaki. lie coiisiilcreil that -Taranaki, as the c-ni.c ot -New Zealand's linest dairying diai; ■>, should have a dairy and farm school, by whose means much might lie Jot: in demonstrating to fanners the need! for putting a little mure back into the I hunt. He believed that greal oil ! would accrue to the district if the lish-! ing industry were put 0.1 a more mo- j del 11 basis locally. j COASTAL TRADE. I

ile marvelled ihal the people of X ~v Plymouth had not started a line of small steamers to trade between llpunake and Kawhia. There seemed sonK-ihing here for the member for tlie district to do in "prodding up'' the people. He delivered AN APPEAL to the electors to consider well the merits of the men who were seeking to * c

present them, so that they would get life man who would work the hardest and light the hardest for them. He believed that his freedom—the fact that he was not the Government nominee-

| was going to work in his favor at the poll on Tuesday. Replying to .Mr. Bellringer, lie repeated his statement that he believed in settling Crown lands before buying and cutting up private holdings, aT though he was satisfied with the work-' ings of the Lands for Setllemcat Act.!

lie dill not care that the Opposition claimed his as part of its policy. It, was his belief. Somebody had to settle those waste lands, and what was Jvrong in sending to-day's people to it? Ile was quite prepared to send his own sons there, and believed that what had been good enough for parents should be good enough for the children lie was

AN Ol'T-AXD-OUT FREEHOLDER. He didn t believe in landlords, white Crown, or native, and held the belief : that the freehold was the only tenure 1 for the farmer. Like all the oilier Ta- ' ranaki members, he would have oppos- ■ fed tile first Land Bill of the present ' Ministry, but he would not vote ivainat the Government if it were made a no confidence motion.

DEFENCE OF HIS PROFESSION. Ifc was absurd to object to him because he was a lawyer. This objection was based upon someone's statement that lawyer members of Parliament deliberately tangled up the laws so that they could earn (is 8d in unravelling them later on. Such a remark was an insult, and Ire challenged anyone to tell him that to his face. It could never be said about him, and he did not believe that any lawyer would so debase his ability. ANTI-CATHOLICISM. He regretted very much that the •"■- ligious element had been introduced "uito this contest. His religion was a matter between himself and his God, and he felt sure that all right-thinking people would resent the attempt to discredit him because he was a Catholic. It was an infamous falsehood to say the civil service was being stuffed with Catholics, for whilst the Catholics were in the ratio of one in seven of the population, they were only one in ten in the civil Service. CONCLUSION.

Mr. Malone, hi conclusion, said h'e 'was in accord with Edmund Burke in his remark that it was the duty of the 1 epresentative of the people to sacrifice his repose, his pleasure, and his own satisfaction in every respect to his constituents, and to put their interests above his own. Further, that he should pot sacrifice his unbiassed opinion, his matured judgment, and his enlightened i conscience to any set of living men. He was prepared to give the Government his loyal support, for the practicallv unanimous vote of the people was that this Government was working'in Tie best interests of this eountrv. But if his constituents should require him to carry out a policy that would not square with his opinion, judgment, or conscience, or if the Government wanted him to do so, he would come back

and place his resignation in the hapds of the 'electors. If thev did him tin

honor of returning him as the representative of Taranaki, he would be out for real hard work in their interests, pledged to work for any one of them, irnyjj/Bctive of class, creed, or condi-

Mr. Malone concluded his speech amidst loud applause. In answer to Mr. Tweedale, Mr. Malone said he had already defined 'his at-

titude ill regard to the sale of liquor and its control, but he considered fre

could not fairly be called upon to give his decision publicly upon the. issue Incense v. No-license.

Mr. Tweedale remarked that the other two candidates were definite aud pronounced on this point. Mr. Malone afterwards reiterated his Mief in State control and Dominhn option, replying in the negative to a suggestion of municipal control. All revenue from this source should, in his opinion, bo us'ed in education and old age pensions. He did not know of a

single instance of a trial of proper State control, anil thought New Zealand was well situated to make the experiment. At all events, he would leave

the people to'do their own thinking on this point. Mr. Malone regretted that, having left some of his papers at home, he was unable/ to reply to a set of questions 011 (his.reform sent to him by Mr. Itigelow. lie had declined to auswer them by letter, lest the temperance people, iike the Farmers' Union,

should sit in judgment upon his re plies.

Upon tlie motion of Mr. Haldane, seconded by ill'. Frank Cornwall, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded the Bpcaker, and the usual compliment was voted to the chairman.

TO-DAY'S VOTING. THE TWO POLLS.

WHAT VOTERS MAY AND .MAY NOT DO.

lictween the hours of 9 a.m. and C p.m. to-day the polling places will be open for the recording of votes. LICENSING: SIX WAYS OF VOTING.

There are six ways of voting on the No-license poll. The three straight-out issues are, of course, Continuance, Reduction, and No-license. There are also three doubles, Reduction and Nolicense, Continuance and Reduction, and Continuance and \o-license(in which one negatives ahe other). In the latter three ways of voting it is the duty oi the deputy returning ollicer to record one vote 'each to the two corresponding straight-out issues.

MOST IMPORTANT: MARKIXf THE PAPERS.

Electors should avoid marking their ballot papers with a cross, in the same way as for municipal elections. They should mark the electoral voting paper by crossing out the names of the candidates for whom they do not intend to vote, and the local option papers by striking out the issues which they do not wish to be carried. SECOND 'BALLOTS.

Tn case no candidate in an electorate' shall obtain a clear majority of Hie total uumber of votes polled, a second ballot must Ik- held between the two leading candidates. In the ease of city vleclorales the second ballot must be held within a week, anil in the ease of country electorates within a fortnight.

MR. MASSKY'S LAST WOPvD. i3y Telegraph."v-Prcss Association. Auckland, Uist Night. Mr. Massi'v, who delivered a speech at Dcvoiiport this evening, concluded his remarks by saying, in reference to' the Opposition platform: "We ask the electors to remember that we stand for honest government and clean, economical administrattion: for the option of the freehold and freedom from harassing restrictions. We stand fur true liberalism and genuine democracy; we sLand for national progress and au imlcpcnj dent Parliament; and we ask the Hec- | tors of the Dominion to remember these 1 fact- and vote accordingly."

MESSAfiIi Il'-KOM commonwealth PIUMK MINiSTEU. | Christchurch, Last Night. Mr. Jus. Thorn to-day received the following cablegram from Mr. Fisher, Prime Minister of the Australian Commonwealth: —"On the eve of the Dominion elections, the Commonwealth Labor Party urges New Zealand workers tu vote solid for Labor candidates.—Fisher. Prime Minister."

EEELINCi IN AI'C'KLANI). Auckland. Last Night. The feeling over the. elections cannot said to be al all excited, except at Ony Lynn, wliere the hot fight between Mr. FowhU and Mr. Nicholson has attracted much attention, but close contests arc expected in several of the city electorates. Up lill a fortnight ago the ijuestion between the license and no-) : "ense parties was not figuring very p 'mi ieiitly, but iuterestjias been arou-ed so : rapidly and the question has claimed 1 such a large measure of attention that | the results of the local option polls will in manv cases be awaited more eagerly ! than the results of the general elec- * liou-j.