POLITICAL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 138, 6 December 1911, Page 2

POLITICAL

THE TAUMARUNUI SEAT. MR. WILSON AT WAITARA. Mr. C. K. Wilson, the Reform Party candidatu for Taumarunui, addressed a crowded audience in St. John's Hall, Waitara, on Monday evening. The speaker, who on entering the hall was applauded, appeared to carry his audience with him, his remarks being frequently greeted with applause. | After being briefly introduced by Mr. W. F. Jenkins, Mayor of Waitara, who presided, the candidate said lie would first like to brush away some minor affairs. As far as he was concerned, he | had mado up his mind that he was not going to allow personalities to creep into the contest, and so far he had kept his pledge, having never once mentioned his opponent's name. A rumor had, however, been circulated that ho had engaged the hall for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, in order to block Mr. Jennings. To this rumor he gave an unqualified denial. Mr. Wilson said he intended dealing with the Opposition policy and to state clearly what he advocated. The policy I of the present Government was one of I abuse and misrepresentation. When Sir Joseph Ward went to Taumarunui the other day —Taumarunui up till a few Weeks ago was said to be a walk-over — to open a railway which it was never intended to open, but which would have lost the seat, he had two special trains, one from Qhakune and one from Te Kuiti, and then only had a small meeting, yet when Mr. Massey had an enthusiastic meeting at Winton it was said that the meeting was packed by a special train. Well, if it was, Mr. Massey paid for it, whereas at Taumarunui tlie country paid for it, not Sir Joseph Ward. That, however, he said, ran off their backs like water. In presenting the Opposition policy, he pvas presenting a sound and liberal policy, which he was prepared to stand by. He then read the policy through and dealt with each clause separately. i Regarding finance, he said that no treasurer worth his salt would make popularity his first or any consideration at all at the expense of the public purse. Yet the Budget showed that all the Government desired was to retain power. Expenditure should not be for popularity, but for the benefit of the colony. He quoted figures to show that the expenditure had gone up out of all proportion to the increased cost of population. When the population was 650,000 the expenditure waa £2,133,000 per year; now with a population of 1,000,000 the expenditure had increased to £5,700,000, or three times faster than the population had increased. Of course the revenue had increased, and it was only to be expected that the expenditure should increase, but not to such enormous proportions. Was it any wonder the revenue had increased, when the Government had expended no less than £40,OfIO.OOO on public works, which, they claimed, were revenue-producing. In a nutshell, the population had increased 54 per cent., the revenue 115 per cent., and the expenditure 107 per cent. This could only be put down to one thing—scandalous waste of public money. Look where one liked, the waste was increasing by leaps and bounds. No Government "should create sinecures; only people absolutely necessary should be employed. Yet go to any Department and it would be found full" of men unfit or unable to do their work. Tho Premier had challenged them to give instances of wasteful expenditure. He could reply effectively by quoting the Premier's own words three years ago, that £250,000 could be saved in the Civil Service, without impairing its efficiency. The Hutt railway duplication, which was to have cost £IOO,OOO, cost £333.000. The Dunedin railway station cost £ 120,000, when they were'told that it was going to cost £40,000. He could keep on quoting, but he had said enough to show them that they had to-day the most extravagant Government that New Zealand had ever seen. I They were asked what did they want to do? They replied. "Kick out the Ward Government." When told that land had gone up, wages had pone up, industries, etc., had gone up, and asked why they wanted a chango, they replied that cost of living, rent, land values and everything had gone up, and people were not in a -better position, but in a worse one than they were before. It was time tho Government went out and made room for men able to govern competently. Look at the Customs, in which that rank Conservative at the head of the Government had claimed that he had taken tax from the poor and placed on the rich. Well, he had only to relate 'that £IBO,OOO worth of motor cars had come in duty free, and£Booo wrth of perambulators had paid £l3o&Aty. He supposed it was cheap.r to a motor car than a perambulator and luxury. (Laughter). They were told that this was the greatest Government the world had ever seen. Then, if so, why did they want to appoint so many commissions, who.se findings, by the way, were never acted upon? Why did not the Cabinet face the position as responsible Ministers and save the cost of these commissions? They had already had timber, tariff, police-and native commission*, and were now threatened with commissions to find out why living was dearer. They did not want to know that; they wanted to know what to do j to make 'it cheaper. There was also a commission proposed to find out what railways were to be built. iTn regard to the settlement of native lands, he had a definite policy. He would individualise the land, give tho natives a title and pass legislation so that they, should pay rates and taxes and bear the burden tho same as everyone else. They were told that they were endeavoring to impoverish the natives and create native paupers. The 40,000 natives were nowdrawing large sums from thnir lands and contributing nothing. They got education, doctors, old-age pensions, and, in fact, more consideration than the Europeans. Did they ever see their leaders encouraging them to save money, create technical schools or scholarships'? No; rather, they were encouraged to waste their substance. The sooner the natives were placed on a proper footing the better. There were vast areas of na- j tive lands at present producing.nothing, and these after December 7. when the Opposition come into power, would be peopled with happy families, all assisting to bear the burden. The prosent Government took credit for settling 80 per cent, of the King Country land. Why, twenty years ago no one could get into the King Country. So why did the Government not be honest and sav that sinco they had been in power they had done their best to settle this land? Regarding tenures, tho speaker said that the 999 years' lease was admittedly no good; else whv was it repealed? The 66 years' lease was also no good. The 21 years' renewable lease was not what was wanted. What the country wanted was the right to the freehold at an upset price. Cut up the land, give tli" people the option of taking it up on leasehold or freehold, but let them know when they took it up what rent twy would have to pay, and also the price necessary to make it their own —which should be the original value. People on the land should be assisted. It was not

land settlement when they "'endeavored to put people $1 the land and then crip- | pled them'. It was not right to make a ] man reside on the land immediately he secured it. It would 'be far better to allow him to retain his position, and when he had got some bush fallen and a home to take his wife and family there. He knew of cases in which settlers had to pay 16s per cwt. for packing provisions. One man alone—a poor man at that-—had to pay £6O, so how could he succeed? When people were sent on the land they should be encouraged to make bright, happy homes, so that they could feel they were imt proving their position. The Govern[ment said they had settled 400,000 acres, but of this acres had been surrendered and 130,000 forfeited. Was that settlement? As a matter of fact, the Government had no land policy. They were endeavoring to buy native lands at £2 5s per acre which were not worth the money. He read extracts which showed what the Government thought of the freehold. Hon. J. A. Millar said that the man that wanted freehold was "a political freebooter," and also made the monstrous statement that if any tenant of the Crown died the State *had the right to take the property from his widow sit children. Hon. Geo. Fowlds also said that he would run the railways free, and make up the revenue by taxing the land. Mr. McXab, who was one of the most vigorous in blocking other people getting the freehold, never said anything when he obtained the freehold of 50,000 acres in the Mokau block. He was in favor of reforming the system of expenditure on public works, by appointing a non-political board, with a knowledge of the requirements for roads, 'bridges, etc. The moneys would be appropriated by Parliament, allocated by this board and handed ■ over to ! the local bodies interested, who were, he considered, most competent to carry. them out. _ He instanced the disgraceful state of affairs that had existed in connection with some work at Tatu, which had cost the Government £6OO, when the local body could have put a cutting through for £IOO. Ho referred to the disabilities that children in the backblocks had to put up with in regard to education, due not so much to the education boards, but i to the fact that the Government did j not make any provision for them. In towns every facility was provided, but he had travelled for 14 days in the, King Country and had only seen two schools. He read a letter received by settlers in response to an application for a school, in which they were told that if they provided a building, carted the school furniture from the station, and provided accommodation for a teacher, free of i cost, the application would be granted.! It was monstrous that people in the backblocks should be denied the privileges of education to which all were entitled as a right. In regard to railways, he would not deal with the unfair proportion of the South Island railways over the North, although the latter all paid interest, whereas the former did not. He could not understand why the North Island members had not clubbed together and demanded their rights. In the railway | service there were a fine body of men, J but they were seething with discontent; because they had been unfairly tn ated. Promises had been made and not kept. 1 If they were kept recently it was only j because the Government felt they wore going out of power, and any concessions made must therefore be put down to the | efforts of the Opposition. Ho then answered several questions re-' lating to railway matters that he had been asked to reply to from the platform, as follows:—Under present condi-, tions, he was in favor of 0s per day as a minimum wage for railway men, but they must remember that if there were a depression, which he did not think there would be, it might be necessary to ! reduce them. He was in favor of them having full civil and political rights. As regards Ministers having the right of veto they did not want Ministerial interference. Railway men should be represented at appeal boards and departmental enquiries by independent men. He was in favor of a 48-hour week, but under some circumstances of management it might not be always feasible. He was in favor of the Widows Pensions Bill. Any such question would always have his support. In regard to the Advances to Settlers, two of the Ministers who were now claiming the credit of this, opposed it at the time, viz., Messrs Millar and Mackenzie. They said that the people, after taking all the money they could, would be petitioning to be let off the interest. This was a gross insult, as every one hod met his obligations. The Advances to Workers was also directly due to the Opposition, because it was thrown out by the Government, who afterwards trotted it out again, passed it, and took the credit for it.' No man, he said, in reply to an iaterjector, would make statements from a platform which were not true, as he would soon be bowled out. He believed in the Legislative Council being elected by the people, not as today—people who were rejected at the polls being sent to the Upper House for a rest. If the people of the Dominion were capable of electing the Lower House they were also capable of electing the Upper. Local government reform was urgently needed. It had been promised many years. The Opposition when in power would not promise but perform. Civil service reform was another crying necessity. The civil service was crammed full of incompetents, a though there was also a fine body of men. The civil service must he reorganised so that merit and not political pull would bring a man to the top. In conclusion, he said the old Government ship was water-logged. "Give her a bump on the 7th and she will go under for certain." He promised them they would rescue the crew out of the water, bring them ashore, and give them a spell. Vast sums of money were wasted, which did not come from the skies, but from their pockets, and accordingly the Government were no longer able to retain their confidence. Now, he said, the electors had a chance to return a body of ca|)able men, of which he, their obedient servant, was one, and so bring the Dominion to a state of prosperity never seen before. He recited the "Mangy Cockatoo," and urged them not to for get Mrs. Cockatoo and the cry of the backblocks, but to strike a blow for the party oE reform and progress on December 7. (Applause). Numerous questions were asked, one questioner at the hack being particularly persistent and accompanying his questions with speeches, so much so that the audience on various occasions cried to him to take the stage. The replies were as follows: He considered the Mokau affair was one of the greatest bits of political jobbery ever perpetrated. It was the duty of the Government to have acquired the land at 10s 4d and put settlers on it at that price. He was not aware that Mr. Massey had been trying for years to enable land to bo purchased direct from the natives without going through the Government. He did not think it was so. lie was here for himself, and was not interested in Mr. Massey's private dealings. He was not an independent Oppositionist, but an out-and-out one. The liquor question was in the hands of the people. Let them settle it.

He was treated with great discourtesy when he went as a member of a deputation to Wellington. He was not one of the, old Conservatives of "20 years ago. Ho was here as a true Liberal. He did not believe in harping back to what had been done 20 years ago. He was there to show what he was prepared to do in the future. The land policy at present did not provide for the optional system at the upset. He would repeal one law, viz., that one that abolished juries in certain cases. He was not in favor of taxing bachelors. He would leave them to the girls, who would settle them. He did not know the value of Mokau, but understood it contained vast mineral wealth. He was in favor of borrowing, because a young country could not progress without it. but he believed in getting fair value for every penny spent. Tn regard to giving tenants of the Public Trustee freehold, that was a difficult question, because he did not know how the lands might be vested. He would do so, however, if it could be done without doing anyone an injustice. Mrl Gordon then moved that the speaker bo accorded a hearty vote of thanks for the address and also for the clear and concise answers. This was seconded by Mr. Davidson, but was withdrawn when Mr. 0. V. Tate moved that a hearty voto of thanks and confidence bo accorded the speaker. This, ho felt, was only right in face of the political feeling from one end of the Dominion to the, other.—Seconded by Mr. Davidson and carried with enthusiasm. After the speaker had returned thanks he was accorded ringing cheers.