A POLICY SPEECH

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 117, 8 November 1911, Page 5

A POLICY SPEECH

TOE PREMIER AT WINTON.

REPLY TO OPPOSITION' CRITICISM.

By Telegraph—Press Association.

Winton, Last Night. Su- Joseph Ward opened his campaign to-night. By special brain from Invereargill a very large number of citizens came out to Winton with the Prime Minister, who was accompanied by Lady Ward. On' arrival'at the railway station the party was welcomed by the local band and a very large assemblage ! of cheering people. Such a large crowd [ had gathered in Winton to hear tire Prime Ministers address that the hall originally engaged was not nearly large enough to accommodate them, and an adjournment, was made to a larger hall, wlbere fully 1500 people were soon packed in. Sir Joseph was loudly cheered as, with his party, he made his way through the crowded lia.ll to the platform. The Mayor of Winton (Mr. J. P. McWillinniß) presided, awl at the conclusion of his introductory remarks three rousing cliwrs were given for the Premier. Sir Joseph Ward, in his opening remarks, nia<le sympathetic reference to the death of Mr. Massoy's father, and went on to say that in hi* remarks with reference to matters in his electorate he v/iis not going to allow any feeling of l>ittern»cs to influence him 'towards his ojfy i " ,a the cojkst for the Awarua sea:. ,Sir Joseph spoke first of what lw termed the "policy of misrepresenting and distortion cf facts," and referred scathingly to the machine-made'speeches of innocent dupes of the Opposition Party, which .were putting many a good manj wrong./in Xew'Zeaand. He quoted Mr. Fowlds, on his retirement from the Ministry, in confirmation of the contention that no charge of Taranmnyism or corruption could be levelled against the present Government. He quoted also the late Mr. T. E. Taylor and his successor, Mr. Tsitt, in the same connection.

lie had a good deal to say about, the increase in the public debt.'and quoted masses of figures to show that most of the works constructed with borrowed money wore interest-bearing. He also siibmiittcd records to show what comparatively little opposition had been shown by members of the Opposition to th'i different loan proposals. His remarks in justification of the Dreadnought loan were received with cheers.

lie referred in detail to the. benefits to settlers from the Advances to Settlers Department, and the financial soundness of that department. Last year the sum of £2,400,000 was loaned to the settlers of New Zealand, and for the first six months of this year the settlers Lad received about £1,400,000 from the Advances to Settlers Department. Sir Joseph spoke also of the success of the Government Annuities Act. and gave particulars of the various classes of unemployment and the increased cost of living.

Be resented very strenuously the unfounded statements that the present Government had no land policy, and claimed that at the present time there was a choice of no less than eight different kinds of tenure. In the course of his. remark,* in this .connection .he claimed tlfat in the amount of ..land settled he hiid beaten" His -"predecessors bv over a hundred thousand acres. It "had been said-that w Minister for Lands he had not been a success; that he knew nothing about lands. But he claimed that he had put more vigor into the Lands Department than ha<l anv oilier Minister in the past 15 or 20 years, and the results showed this was so.

He referred .to some results of the working of. the State Guaranteed Advances Act. and criticised in passim; the altitude of member.? of the Opposition in tliis regard when the Bill was before the House and at the present time. The whole story of the Mokau land transaction wa.s dealt with fully. Speaking of the flaming laws. Sir Joseph said that he was not sorry for anything he had done in this connection. All sensible people recognised that the gambling lav/a had run riot. The amendments made confined betting tc racecourses, did away with tote shops, abolished the telegraph to racecourses, and. made the calling of the bookmaker illegal. He was not and never had been against horn-racing. He believed that as a sport it deserved encouragement, but as a public man he did not approve of the former state of affairs, and maintained that there were abuses that had to be tackled. The abuses had all been re-moved, and rightly so, in his opinion. With regard to licensing laws, he said the law as now amended should be given a trial. If there were any further change it ought to be: in lieu of a 55 per cent, majority for national prohibition and a three-fifths majority for district nolicense. In the event of prohibition being carried he did not think the revenue should be made up altogether from a tax on land, and certainly not from a tax on small land holders.

Numerous instances were given of the incidence of death duties in support of the contention that this form of taxation was just and equitable. The Prime Minister mentioned in the course of his speech that the earnings from ten public departments created by the present ■Government, and most of them by himself, amounted to nearly one and a half millions.

He spoke at length and with some degree of indignation regarding the Opposition's criticism of the live millions loan, and declared that Opposition members were in possession of all the information that members of the Government possessed. He had read the cables in the House The net return was £OO os. Full details could not be obtained from the High Commissioner until the sale of the remaining £142,000 of stock was completed. The expenses of the loan amounted to £110,480. The Opposition pursued a method not followed anywhere else in the world of adding the ilis- . count to the expenses of the loan and calling the total thus obtained the cxpeus;- of raising the loan. Mr Jo«ph Ward stated that he had been informed by Sir Jas. Mills that the rnion l\>:npni)7 had given instructions for "ihe construction of a vessel similar to the Maori, hut larger and better, to replace the Ma.raro.t on ih- T.yttcltonWelliiigliui ferry service within the next 12 months. It' would then he possible for a person to travel from huvivargill and be in Wellington next morning. The spec, h contained comprehensive reference, to all the legislation undertaken by the Liberal Government. In answer to the allegations of public money having been spent on private land in Awarua, Sir Joseph declared that he had not at any lime, to bis knowledge authorised any public money to be spent on private laud. He was instituting enquiries, and if there were cases where money had unwittingly been so spent, then .refunds would be insisted upon. At the conclusion of an address of two and a half hours, the Premier was accorded a vote of thanks and unabated confidence in the Government of which he was the tlistinguiehed head.