POLITICAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 112, 1 November 1911, Page 7

POLITICAL.

THE EGMONT SEAT. , MK. W. F. MASSEY AT ELTHAM. I The campaign in the Egmont electorate opened at Elthain on Monday evening, when Mr. W. P. Massey, Leader of the Opposition, addressed an audience of about a thousand people in the Town Hall. The chair was taken by Mr. G. P. Wake, Mayor of Eltham.

Mr. Massey was given a very hearty reception, and after a brief word of congratulation to the people of Eltham upon the possession of such a fine building | as the new Town Hall, expressed his pleasure at seeing such a large attendance, which indicated a close interest in politics. He went on to say that when people wero apathetic and careless in regard to public matters the Government of the day very often began to think that they were the political masters of the people instead of the political servants. (Applause). That was the feeling in Canada until recently, and the feeling obtained to a certain extent in Xew Zealand. In both countries the Governments were inclined to forget that those who had made could also unmake, but this fact was brought home very suddenly, very forcibly, and, as far as one could judge, very unex- i pectedly to the Government of Canada, and in Xew Zealand he would not be surprised if the Government had the same experience. (Applause). I ONE OUTSTANDING QUESTION. j

While the elections of representatives were generally affected by locality and personal considerations, the one question that stood out and had to be settled by each elector on polling-day was whether the present Government was worthy to retain the confidence of the people. He expressed confidence that if it were possible to take a referendum on this one question there would be a huge majority of votes in the negative. It was not well, said Mr. Massey, for any Government to be too long in office, especially in a Democratic country. No doubt the Ministers would do their best to put their side of the matter and it would be his duty, and the duty of his colleagues, to put the question from their points of view. Mr. Massey then explained the position taken up by the Parliamentary Opposition. The Opposition Party was referred to sometimes as a "freak," but the term hardly fitted. It was true that when the Govern-; ment was going too fast the Opposition! tried to steady them, but when they considered the Government was going too slow they tried to shove them along. In short, the Opposition members supported what they believed would be for ' the goods of the country, and opposed anything they considered' detrimental to its best interests. They were just a set of plain, practical, coramonsense men anxious to do their best for the country to which they belonged. A number of the members of the Opposition had given the best years of their lives in the service of the people ungrudgingly iind without fee or reward, or hope of it—until just lately. (Laughter). They had nothing to offer in the shape of roads or bridges, positions in the Legislative" Council, or Justices-of--the- Peace," or anything of that sort. All they were able to offer was willing and honest service. He felt that they had some claims on the confidence of the people, and, he believed quite likely, on the majority of the people. The time was coming when the country would 'require men of grit and energy and ability to take charge of public affairs. ''The ship of .State has been sailing along under blue skies and fine weather and over smooth seas until we have almost forgotten the possibility of danger." Then, dropping the figure of speech, Mr. Massey warned the audience that New Zealand could not go on borrowing five or six or seven millions a year, and piling up taxation, as had been done in recent years. There must come a necessity soon to bring their expenditure very much nearer to their income, and when that time came sacrifices would have to he made not pnly by the people as a whole, hut particularly by the men at- the head of affairs.

WHERE TS THE POLICY? ■ The'Fiiiancial Statement, he said, was generally looked upon as the proper place for the Government to put its policy before the country. The Financial Statement recently brought down constituted a record in (he number of words it contained, but it was mostly an electioneering Budget, with scarcely a scrap of wisdom or statesmanship—not enough statesmanship to run a road board district—or anything that might he called a Government policy. There was no mention of the real democratic reformg required in the country, no proposal t» reduce taxation or the cost of living, nothing to show how the Government stood on the land questiom-whether for freehold or for the leasehold, or whether they .were prepared, jus for some time past, to split the differencer-no mention of reform of the Legislative Council. nothing with reference to an improved method of appointment to the public service, nothing with regard to bringing about a better system of carrying on public works, scarcely a word about the dissatisfaction in the railwav service. As for the Government policy, Sir Joseph Ward had said publicly in America that the policy of the Government was to find out what the people wanted'and then to give it to them. (A voice: I don't blame them). Mr. Massey. however did blame them. That policy, whilst very convenient, was not the •sort of policy to lead to the strengthening of the national character or to make us honored and respected among the nations of the earth. The Government, in his opinion, should place its policy before the House, inviting Parliament 1 to place it on the Statute Book. If it were carried into law, the Government should stay and administer it. but if they were defeat* d. if the members showed no confidence in. the Government and iU policv. then the Government should walk oil' the stage and let others take a hand. This election was a sort of national stock-taking, when the people should take stock of the icsiilts of the administration of the past four or five years, rt i l!r .,, the present Government took rdlice. They should see how the cost of !ivi:i<_r hail gone up. how the taxation had been piled up. how their loan indebtedness had been piled up. and they should consider the failure of the Gowrumcul to make good on the land que-lior. The result'of the land legislation of (he present, Government was to make mailers worse than before, and the con.-qifuce of this was that, in the past vear (he number of persons arriving in the Dominion had barely balanced the departures, although we had an immigration svstem that, was costing a. lot of money. ' The speaker referred lo the lirst land lc:i-latiou introduced bv Mr. MeXab. then Minister of Lands. That, Hill made it impossible for any settler on Crown land to acquire the freehold. Was that, friendlv towards the man on the land? The liill didn't go through. Next session there was brought down a sort of .split-the-dill'crence Hill, which provided for national endowments, Ih.- fr-hoM ,■'■ »i.-eii. i....„| ~,i n| d „„(, be acquired. .The third l!il! seemed to incline to the freehold, whereat the leasehold members of the Government | Party got their backs up and the 15ill was dropped. The fourlh Land TiiU swayed back to the leasehold, and pro-

vided that the Government could compulsorily acquire any block of land. That Bill was not passed. Then came the freeholders' turn again, and the other day the Premier introduced a Bill which was mainly an electioneering Bill, which the Government made no attempt to pass. If the Government were in power next session and re-introduced this Bill, he would vote for it, because it provided for reinstating the old deferred payment system. (Applause). If the Government were not in office —well, he would put the Bill through himself. He made that offer publicly now. DISPOSING OF CROWN LANDS.

Mr. Massey contended that the system of disposing of Crown lands to-day was not as good as it was live years ago. There was still the optional system, of course, but only with regard to certain Crown lands. They had knocked out the lease-in-perpetuity, and introduced a renewable lease of 33 years for lands for settlement areas and (i(i years in the case of ordinary Crown lands. Three classes of men took up these Crown lands. The first was the man of money, who paid cash; there'was no difficulty with him. The second man took advantage of the occupation-with-right-of-pur-chase (p-r-p) system, and at the end of ten years he paid oft' his indebtedness and became independent. The third was the industrious man of limited means, desirous of a chance to go on the land. I In order to save the one per cent, difference in the rates of interest charged on the o.r.p. and renewable lease tenures !he would take a renewable lease. That man, the man of small means, though prohbaly quite as good a farmer' as either of the other two, had no chance < f acquiring the freehold, and he was barred from it simply on account of !_'* means. That was the land legisla'■m of the Liberal Government! Twelve ) onths ago in Committee of Supply in the House, he had endeavored to carry an amendment to provide for that, as the prosperity of this country depends so much on the* settlement of the land, he was of opinion that the Legislature should make provision this session for additional facilities for the occupation and most profitable use of the lands of the Crown (a) by extending the optional system both to' Crown and land-for-set-tlement lands, and by removing every hindrance to the exercise of the option which enables the settler to take up land under the o.r.p. system; (b) by providing that all lessees under lease in perpetuity shall have the right to purchase their freeholds at the original value, either by instalments or otherwise, but when they liare been paying 4 per cent, they shall, in addition, pay such an amount as will make their payment equivalent to what they would have paid had their leases been on a. 5 per cent, basis; (c) by securing the limitation of area of the free-, holds so acquired; (d) by utilising the money* derived from the sale of freeholds for acquisition of further lands for settlement; (c) by providing for the speedier opening up of the surplus native 1 lands for settlement purposes, thereby maiking such lands contribute their fair j share to the general and local taxation J of the country. He didn't believe that one in a hunI dred of his present audience would dis- , ; agree with his amendment, but • Mr. T. Mackenzie-had voted against it amongst , others," a'hd' those" tliii't were against it were against the freehold and against giving facilities for the proper settlement of th«'land.'"The'division list showed that Mr. Dive voted for the amendment. ■ •"• '

A voice: He'll never get a chance again, poor man! (Laughter).

Mr. Massey: It won't be saying much for the people of Eltham if they don't give hijii a thousand majority. Continuing, Mr. Massey said his amendment was lost by ten votes. Three years before it would have been lost by"3o. ',I(. showed that matters were advancing, and when he introduced it three vears hence it would be carried. L'nfortiirta-te-l.\"'there were a lot of men in the House who knew nothing about the land. The' Minister of lands himself (Sir Joseph., Ward) knew nothing about it. He quoted from :i speech by , the Hom'%;M)l}ar to the effect that ' a Crown lease'should expire at the death of the lessc'fl, and that in his opinion the widow sllouW not be considered, as the Cruicrci.Had made no contract with the widow.'i What sort of land legislation could! fchdy' expect from a set of men of whom' that gentleman was one? He believed that the Government's plain duty, was.! rto» open up every acre of Crown and 1 native land that could be made available, and that every settler should hayo..thfe right at some time to obtain tip?, freehold. Sir Joseph Ward, the Minister -of Lands, was not fit for the positjqn. [ ; fie was a very able man ,in many a capital business man, but he ;kn,ew , nothing about land and farming! The .only farmer in the Cabinet was ilr? Buddo, and he being a leaseholder tile-Government dare not give the portfolio to him He was in favor of limitation of areas, but he most strongly condemned' tho- proposal (not proceeded with in some time ago that if any Crown tenant holding his full area of land occupied another paddock he should lie liable to a penalty by fine or imprisonment.' He contrasted that with the facility with which a speculator recently acquired 53,(100 acres in the Mokan block at Ms 4d an acre. There was every facility for the speculator and gaol for the settler. He reviewed the Mokau laud'transaetion, and complained tiiat tile Government had failed in its duty. ~Jt should have acquired the freehold of the block" and opened up the land for settlement, for then the settlers would have got the land far more cheaply than from the. present owners. He complained, too, that the Government, despite the land hunger existing, did not use Parliament's authority to expend £500,000 a year in the purchase of lands for settlement. Coming to

NATIVE LANDS, Mr. Masscy said there were millions of acres of this lying unoccupied. Some of it was good land, which was being improved in value by the advance of roads and bridges and railways, and by the advance of the pakcha. Other blocks were becoming over-nm with weeds and going to wa=te. its owners as idle as the land. Something must be done t» put it into use. and to make the owners work. too. Even Sir John Eindlav admitted that now—for (he first time in his life. Of course, as Sir Joseph Ward had said. Sir John was expressing his opinion not as a member of the Mn-i-urv but as a. candidate seeking the suffrages of the electors. There was a great difference, and he hoped the electors of Egmont would remember it. lie believed that where the Maori owners had all the advantages of our roads, schools, etc.. they should be made to take their share in the development of the country, and if (hey refused to do that, the Oovernment, should see that the land was made available for European settlement. "POLITICAL WIXDMI LLS/'

How was it possible to respect a set of men like the present administration, who were like a set of political windmills, spreading their sails to catch every wind that blew? He could respect a. man who held some opinion, whether it agreed with his own or not, but the present administration had no more principle than a phonograph, and no more backbone than an oyster. They would promise socialism to the socialists, indiiidualism to the individualist, freehold to the freeholder, and leasehold to the

leaseholder, protection to the protectionist and free-trade to the free-trader, democracy to the democrat and aristocracy to the aristocrat—in fact, anything the people liked. A member of the Ministry who was now a candidate for a seat had once written a, book on "Humbugs and Homilies." In it he wrote: "A skilful veneer looks as well as solid mahogany, and costs less, but the veneer is always the dearer in the long run." Mr. Massey hoped the electors would distinguish between the veneer of the Government and the solid mahogany of the Opposition.

i THE BORROWING POLICY. Speaking as a man with a stake in the country, Mr. Massey condemned the borrowing system of the present Government, whilst he agreed that some borrowing must be done if they were to have loads, bridges and railways constructed. Six and a-half millions of fresh' indebtedness in a year was too much. The trouble was that the Government aimed at doing all the financing in the country. This was wrong. The Government should, as in other countries, encourage people to keep their money in the country and encourage outside capital to come here. Our Government drove it out.

INCREASED TAXATION. Few people, he said, really knew of the increased taxation in the past few years, simply because they didn't pay it direct to the tax-collector. But they must recognise that increased bank duties, income tax or railway freights, all had to come out of the pockets of the consumer, of the rank and file, of the worker, who could not pass the indebtedness on. So long as taxation was being piled up in this way the cost of living would go on increasing. And if the Government bought estates that did not pay—such as that just outside Wellington—or constructed railways that did not pay interest on the cost, that deficit had to be made up out of taxation levied on the people in some form or other. He remarked that the Opunake line would probably pay all right—(cheers)—but if didn't the deficit would have to be made up by taxation of the people. Mr. Massey referred to the great delay on the part of the Government in giving details to the House concerning the cost of raising loans, and the action

of the Government in defeating Opposi- { tion efforts to have these particulars supplied even within two years of the raising of the loan. In- Ouiada a return of all expenditure by the Government was laid on the table in Parliament each 3'ear, but he had tried in vain to have ! the system adopted here, for it was one j of the most valuable reforms he could ) think of. l THE REFORM PARTY.

Mr. Massey referred to some of the planks in the Reform Party's platform, touching first on the necessity for reform of the Legislative Council. He would replace the present nominative Council by an elective body, elected on the jpresent franchise but representing larger constituencies. Taranaki would probably have three councillors. The unfortunate phase at present was that these M.L.C.'s, whilst jiaving as much to say as any M.P. in the making of the laws of the country, were responsible to no one but the Premier, on whose recommendation they were appointed. He wished to make it clear that there were some very good men in the Upper House, but it was the system of appointment that was bad. As showing the powers of the Council, he instanced the fact that the House of Representatives passed a Bill providing for its reform, hut the Bill didn't receive the vote of a single councillor. He believed that many of the present members would be ■ reelected, and the Hon. 0. Samuel would be one of the first. The Party urged the necessity for reform in the method of making appointments to the Civil Service. This was now largely done as a matter of political patronage—he had to do it himself for his constituents sometimes—but appointments should be made bv an independent board according

to merit. The Reform Party favored a less costly system of carrying out public works, and would urge the employment of such labor-saving machinery as steam shovels, and so on, instead of sticking to the out-of-date pick-and-shovel work that existed probably before the Flood. Why, in Canada recently a railway was laid at the rate of a mile a day. It might be urged that the use of this labor-saving machinery would be bad for the working men, but it would not, for there would be just-as much money to spend, and more railways would be constructed. It was the' excessive cost that made lines that did not pay, and brought a consequent increase of taxation. But the present party had been so long in power that it lacked initiative, and in our system of carrying out public works we lagged behind.

'•'THE GREATEST FARCE." He described the Public Works Estimates as "the greatest farce," the members being compelled to vote away all this money in one night without knowing anything about a lot of the, votes. These votes were obtained, too, 1)y "pull." or political influence, a system which be contrasted unfavorably with the Development Boards in England. The Government was responsible itself for the small amount expended on public works, for last year they had £340,741 unexpended out of a vote by Parliament of £:')!Mi.oß.i. The present system of vote-catching by promises of and votes for works in some districts was a curse, and against the principles of democracy which our people had at heart.

THE government: and tub PEOPLE. Mr. Massey complained that the Government was steadily and improperly usurping the functions of the people's representatives, instancing the power of a Minister to levy or not to levy certain Customs duties; the power of the Ministry to cancel i\ Parliamentary vote for a bridge or road and expend the money at the other end of the country; the power of the Government to bring down in the dying hours of the session a Hill to provide additions to salaries of judges, and so on, these salaries having already been fixed by Act of Parliament; the ''Dreadnought" offer which, in the absence of any proof that Sir Joseph Ward's ''Crisis" really existed all the •time, was a slight on Parliament and a slight on the people of Xcw Zealand. Tic was proud of the fact that the New Zealanders were one of the most Imperialistic peoples in the Empire, but lie was opposed to the tactics adopted in the gift of the Dreadnought. Whv, soon all Parliament would have to do soon would be to find the money by taxation for the people at the head of affairs to spend.

He made reference to the Family Homes Protection Pill, which he himself had introduced .and. hoped to see passed next sesson; condemned the tactics adopted by the. Oovernmcnt in boycotting newspapers which criticised their actions; read some strong criticisms of the Ministry by some members in the House; and concluded bv cxpre.-sing the wish 'that the electors of Egmont would do their duty by voting for the Reform Party—(cries of "Dive!") —at the coming election. (Cheers). REPLIES TO QUESTIONS.

In answer to questions, .Mr. Massey said the Land Commission's report, was not worth the paper it was printed on; he did not know the cost, but it. was over £IO.OOO.

He would not support giving a. property vote to men paying land tax. One man-ouc-votc was the law of the land,

and whilst there might be an alteration in a few years it would mot be in favor of a property qualification. He was endeavoring to ascertain the real cause underlying the differential railway charges. He was against granting a bonus to people taking up the iron industry, for he believed it would be taken up without the bonus. , A bonus would probably have the effec't of having a company floated on the London market for the development of the iron industry, but he preferred to encourage local industry. About 70 per cent, of our debt was in-terest-earning. Undoubtedly the large amount of the debt was created by previous 'administrations; But the amount of loans raised each year had increased in a few years from one to six and a-half millions.

He believed that more conciliation and less arbitration would be better in settlement of labor disputes, the wages boards or conciliation boards being composed of men conversant with the industry in which the dispute arose. In his opinion, the Land Settlement Finance Act, though excellent in theory, and a foundation for a useful piece, of legislation, needed amending so as to better protect the interests of the State prevent land toeing sold at extremely high values and reverting to the State should a time of depression come.

He would not favor the Government taking control of the oil and iron industries so long as they could be worked by private enterprise, and so long as there was no monopoly. CONFIDENCE IX MR. DIVE.

On the motion of Messrs J. Quin and X. B. Fry day, a vote of, thanks to Mr. Massey for his address, and of confidence in Mr. Dive, was. carried. Mr. Massey returned thanks, and a vote of thankl! to the chair concluded a very successful meeting.