MINISTERS "OUT BACK."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 271, 13 May 1912, Page 3

MINISTERS "OUT BACK."

BIG GATHERING AT WHANGAMOMONA. BANQUET TO MR. JOSEPH McCLUGGAGE. The Hons. W. D. S. Mac Donald, Minister for Public Works and Native Affairs, and G. Laurenson, Minister for Labor and Marine, visited Whangamonona on Friday. On arrival at Whangamomona,' Mr. W. A. McCutchan, on behalf of .the- settlers of the district, presented addresses of ' welcome, and expressed pleasure that two Ministers of the Crown had ventured so far to learn the actual needs of the country. Cheers were given for the Ministerial party. The Hon. W. D. \ Mac Donald said that as Ministers they were moving about the country to find what was necessary for its development, and in the best interests of, all classes of people in the Dominion. He had noted with interest the great possibilities of this fertile district, He had been a farmer a/11 his life, and understood the yalue of this class of land. He knew the difficulties of land settlement, roadmaking, railway construction, and the pioneering and bushfelling work. He recognised that the development of the district would ultimately ,be a great asset to the people of the Dominion, as well as to the pioneer settlers of today. • • • The Hon. Geo. Laurenson re-echoed these sentiments. He assured his hearers that if ever a Ministry "had been returned to power whose interest and desire it was to help the "under dog," to help the man who was endeavoring to carve out a home for himself in the backblocks of the ■ country and thus to raise his social position, the present Ministry was that one. The Government was not going to -devote its attention to the requirements of the big centres, but in attending to the needs and requirements of the men and women making their homes in the hamlets and obscure and lonely places in the Dominion. If they would watch the policy of the Government they would find it included open-" ing up by roads and railways the remote places, and as a result might be expected a prosperity hitherto unequalled anywhere. He considered the men and women who were doing the noble pioneering work in this and simi-i lar districts were deserving of all the help that could be given'them, .and,' speaking on behalf of the Government, he assured them that the. Government was going to extend them that help. (Applause.) VTSIT TO THE SCHOOL. The Ministers, accompanied by Mr. Robt. Masters, a member of the Education Board, visited the school, and brief addresses were given to the children, at the conclusion of whicli the pupils rejoiced at the announcement of a whole holiday next Monday. THE BANQUET. The gaily decorated Whangamomona Hall was filled to overflowing to do honor to Mr, Joseph MeCluggage. Mr. W. A. McCutchan presided. The chairman .(Mr. McCutchan) proposed the toast of the guest of the evening. "I think it. is a" truism," he said, "that many of our best men have risen in the younger generation from the wreck of the family home. In Mr. McCluggage's early years financial misfortunes enme, with the result that the young people started out to carve their own fortunes. For nine years Mr. MeCluggage worked in a biscuit factory in Dunedin. Later still he was engaged on a newspaper in Dune" . The characteristics of the boy then «tt- the at-: tributes of the man now. (At;il.iuse.)' He spent some years in mining, but they were years wasted, and soon he drifted to the North Island, where he was engaged on a run. At that time Tarnnaki was attracting attention. Mr. MeCluggage thought it would be a yery Rood thing to go and look at this country, the. result being that he and- his brother settled at Pohokura. They started a store which grew to be the largest inland business in Taranaki, perhaps the largest inland business in the Dominion. Thai business was conducted with sterling ability and marvellous enterprise. It was not strange that when responsible positions wore going the name of Mr. Joseph MeCluggage should bo mentioned. Mr. MeCluggage was elected a member of the Harbor Board, and he had never faltered in his opinion j that the New Plymouth harbor was a great and enormous asset. He served on the harbor board with marked distinction. With regard to his business, when he started he had no assistants, but when he sold out he had thirty men on his pay list. "T myself," continued Mr. Mci Cutchan, "have been living in this district for fourteen years, and I have come into contact with those employees, but I h'ave never heard them say one word against Mr. MeCluggage. Mr. MeCluggage had always done, his best to help ' the struggling settler. The whole conj duct of his life had been exemplary. 1 He had been a good settlor, and a true | man, and a warm-hearted husband. Of 1 course, he had his failings. But he had that class of failings which only endeared him all the more to them. ! (Applause.)' , Mr. MeCluggage, who "was unable to/

I proceed for some time, owing to the < great outburst of applause, thanked the ■ gathering sincerely and deeply for the great honor that had been conferred on him, an honor that he appreciated very ' much. When lie looked around the room and saw some of the old familiar faces that came across the Whanga. saddle, he thought of the tremendous hardships they had had to put up with. They were cut off from civilisation by 30 miles of almost impassable track, and then, between the end of those thirty miles and the Whanga. settlement there was the old Whangamomona saddle, which was in l itself enough to break the heart of any man or woman who had not a stout heart, a strong determination, and an iron constitution. In those days, 18 years ago, the settlers here were shut off from social intercourse and the outside world. They were pioneers of the first water. (Cheers.) People in the backblocks to-day were in paradise compared with the Whanga. pioneers. Whilst they sometimes heard complaints that roading was not sufficiently rapid, they should remember the marvellous development in Crown lands settlement throughout the Dominion, and remember, too, that no Government could have roaded the country without borrowing further millions. The Liberal Govern" ment had, hy passing the Advances to Settlers Act, enabled thousands of far-

mers to take up land and to become independent of the moneylenders. By the lease-in-perpetuity, co-operative works, and the Advances to Settlers and Workers, the Liberal Government had made thousands of men and women happy and prosperous, who might otherwise have been, as he was twenty years ago, on the labor market, with nothing to do. He congratulated the Whangamomona people on at last having the railway at their door. Mr. McCluggage made reference to Mr. Hine's recent utterance at Stratford that he would not "for all the gold in China" be found on the Liberal side, and to Mr. Massey's statement at Whangamomona that when he and Mr. Hine got to Wellington they would see that the Government gave the Whanga. people a present to-night made such a statement Mr. Massey's supporters would accuse them of bribery and corruption. Now at the time Mr. Massey made that state-

ment Mr. Hine knew full well that the J Government was doing its best to assist j I Whangamomona people to get a doctor, I ! and that they could not get a doctor to } | accept the local subscribers' terms. Some men in this district were having a lot to say about bribery and corruption. One man who was circulating this sort of had been glad enough at one time to enlist his (the speaker's) services in warding off a criminal prosecution iu regard to a land and finance deal. If that man were not careful what he said,) •he would "fire his name off from the public platform, and give him something to think about." And if he said anything he would produce documentary evidence to back it up. Mr. McCuiggage thanked. | Mr. McCutchan for his kind remarks con- f cerning himself. Of Mr. McCutchan the late Mr. Seddon had. said that he was { the ablest man on local bodies in New. Zealand. They knew here of the great j work Mr. McCutchan had done in form- j ing the Whangamomona County and in j establishing its finances. He regretted J and most of those in the backblocks re- ) gretted, that the late Government had I wiped out the Roads Department, and he J hoped the Department would be rein-! stated. He also expressed the opinion \ that the men working on public worb | in the backblocks were the worst pau. \ men in New Zealand. The classification j of the, men needed revision. Air. P. Toohey proposed the toast of "The New Ministry." The Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald said that he desired to thank them all very much for the kind manner in which they had drunk the toast. He was there as a new Minister, and he hoped that the enthusiastic reception which had been given to Mr. Laurenson and himself would prove worthy of them (the Min- ! is'ters) as time went on. He first wished j to refer to-his friend, Mr. Joseph Mc- j Cluggage. (Applause.) . It had been said that the life of a public man was a thankless one. But when a man was so highly honored by all classes of the community as Mr. McCluggage had been honored that evening, it must be a large recompense for all he had done for them in the past, He felt that for every politician who went straight there was a recompense in the public recognition of-his labors. "I say this," the Minister continued, "that whatever may be the shortcomings or the failings of the new Ministry, we are out to do pur utmost in the interests of the people of the country. (Applause.) We are not out for one class, but we are out to do what is right and just for all classes of the people." The leader of the Opposition had said that they were a mixed crowd. It would be useless for them to go to Wellington with one man and one man only—that would mean that only one section of the community would be represented. They, as Ministers, represented different sections, of the people. He believed that the Ministry would act in unison, on what they believed to be in the best interests' of the people of this Dominion. (Applause.) On small matters they might not think alike, but on • matters of vital importance, the Ministry would join together. ' There would be no disloyalty amongst them, but they would work honestly and straightforwardly in .the interests, of the people of the country. (Applause.) He was only a young man in the politics of this country, but he had followed, from outside the House, with great interest the three great Liberal Ministries—those of Balance, Seddon and Ward. "I say this," he exclaimed, "that no body of men have ever done in this country more, and for all sections of the community, than those three Ministries have done. (Applause.) In spite of the adverse vote at the last elections, the people of this country arc supporters of the Liberal party from one end of the country to the other. Whatever becomes of the new Ministry, if we can only go on with, the progress and development of this country at the same rate as our predecessors have done, then we shall be doing a great and good work." We were told that there is stagnation in this country—that the late Government did nothing to open up the lands for settlement or to push oh with public works. It was not a fact. There bad been very progressive and extensive land .settlement. (Applause.) When the Liberal Government came into power the position was that practically the whole of New Zealand was in the hands of the large land owners, In 1801) there were 38,000 men who owned over an acre of land, and to-day there were 80,000 men in that position. (Applause.) In fact there had been great and real progress made in land settlement. During the past ten years, lfi,ooo settlers had gone on the laud. He might say that in many instances people had gone on the land under adverse conditions. Land settlement had gone on at such a pace that the Government were unable to cope with it. They wanted roads, bridges and railways, they wanted the means of communication, but the Government could not give them these at once. It was not because of lack of desire to do the best for the settlers; it was because of the lack of money. They were anxious to do their best, but for development.they lacked the essential—that was money. What about the peo--1 pie who declared that the late Government had not pushed on with the roads, the railways, the bridges, and with the opening of tho lands for settlement, wifh

activity? Those very people were the ones who made an outcry against the Government's attempting to raise a loan in London to carry out these works. What prosperity had they caused ? They had certainly not helped the Government to raise money at reasonable rates to push on the development of the country. The Government ; had borrowed large sums of money. They were told that this money was a 'hardship upon the general taxpayers in New Zealand. They said it was non-productive. Yet the greater part-of the money was paying interest, and it was not a'direct charge upon the general taxpayers. Large sums were borrowed by local bodies, and they were paying interest, as well as interest on a sinking fund. The Opposition said that they were heaping up the national debt, and were going to double the burden upon the people of this country. The Opposition, however, realised that for the development of this country one must have money. "As a member of the present Government," said Mr. MacDonald, "I am one of those who are not going to be dismayed at the national of this country. When money is required for development purposes,' for education, and for all those facilities so necessary to the country, I am going to advocate raising money every time." (Applause.) It had been stated during the evening that the Government had done a wrong thing in doing away with the Roads Department. He had on every occasion advocated that the Government should retain that Department. (Applause.) In the Stratford electorate during the financial.year just ended Parliament had authorised for expenditure on road works and railways some £lO,085, of which at the 31st March, 1012, £15,241 had been expended, leaving a balance of £3OOO still available, and the local bodies had been unable to expend this amount, which comprised three votes of £IOOO on three roads. The Government had taken the work in hand, and the resident engineer had b(;e.n given the authority to carry out this work as expeditiously as possible. (Applause.) Throughout the country the roads were receiving more attention than the railways. There were only three thousand men Working on the railways, while on the roads on construction work alone' there were four thousand men. Although he was a backblocks settler be was also in sympathy with the co-operative workers, for he recognised that he was just as big a pioneer as any backblocks settler, though he worked under different conditions. He hold this opinion, in spite of the views taken by those in opposition that the men were picnicking, and that the Government was wasting money. He had given certain instructions to have certain returns prepared of the co-operative system in this country. They could rest assured that as long as he was Minister for Public Works he was not going to take one hour's work from a co-operative laborer, j unless the laborer got a fair return for | his work. (Applause.) Mr. Gleeson. in proposing the toast of "Local Bodies," advocated the extension of the Parliamentary franchise to local bodies elections. The Hon. G. Laurenson said he was proud to do honor to a man who could "take a beating and come up again." "Don't you make any mistake about old Joe," he added. "He'll be in Parliament before many years are over." The late Ministry had suffered at last election as the result of personalities, not politics. He condemned the tactics used by the Opposition during the election, and parI ticularly the attack on the late Prime

I Minister, on account of his religion. As for the new Ministry, Mr. Massey had said tliat it was divided, hut on one matter they were of one mind. He referred to their determination to take j drastic steps to burst up large estates. They were out to put an end to the state of affairs that he had seen in Hawke's Bay —in nineteen miles on the railway he had passed only fiv» dwelling houses, two children and one school. One of the greatest problems with which the civilised world, was faced to-day was the equal distribution of 'vealth, without robbing any man of Lin: fruits of his labor. It was not right that there should be heaped-up wealth at one end of the social system, and poverty, starvation, and destitution at the other end. In a young country like this such things could be and should be prevented. Mr. McCutcnan, replying, said that they wanted simplification, the abolition of road boards and hospital boards, and the abolition of the system which en- ! abled some men to draw quite a decent income in travelling expenses to attend meetings of several local bodies. He made reference to the Local Government i Bill. That Bill had been drafted by a very cle-ver man, and was issued to the country not as indicating the ideas of the Government on local government, but with a view of obtaining the criticism of the country. He believed that out of the conference to be held at Wellington shortly there would be evolved a comprehensive Local Government Bill, Touching on the matter of qualification of voters on local government affairs, he said that he believed in the extension of manhood suffrage to local bodies. He had for many years held the opinion that ratepayers alone should vote on these matters, and the reason which had caused him to change his mind was that to refuse men a vote merely because they were not -directly ratepayers was to deny them that right which underlay British justice, the right of not being taxed without representation. Here, in this district, Whangamomona earned a Government subsidy on rates, and to that amount the men living in tents on the roadside had contributed their share. Very often these men contributed very largely to the consolidated revenue, for it was a fact that amongst the workers ; the largest families were usually to be found. A single.mnn contributed £3 10s per annum £7 per annum; and £3 10s 'for.„every one of his children. He had in,',min<l ,a ,fami]y in this district i who paid in this way £2B out of an annual value of £SO a year of his holding The speaker said that the Ministers had mentioned graduated ita'xafion. At present they had graduated taxation from below, but, it should sttfrt- at the top and come down, but he felt,,from the Cabinet members' speeches that this state of affairs was going to be done away with. (Applause.) ( ' A number of other toasts were honored and'the!meeting closed at/.a late hour amid much ,'!'.,' I MINISTERS, \Oi WHANGAMOMONA. J ;. . SQMjZ jjffiP^A^Q^., • Upon jttfgMiiC-f'ifQa the trucks' at f the Mangare Hon. Mr. Maer ; Donald wasjpifltjby a deputation consisting of Wildon,.,and.? Saywell,' who J? -,ifi)'ierate,d the. : request made by them to,,2£in.jster 1 s who had pre-: that thq Mangare roa4j4firrjja±ion should be epm-r pleted.aj! tunnel., Tfce Minis-, ter Estimates, but it, h(id. been declined by ■jj^Whangamonjbna; County Council;_ Tb# L yotp.ha<l,.iijow -b£/0n placed. ( jn- the ;hands. of the •■district,'en-i gineer, tor,.,sxpend-iijure. . ,!)':' Subsequently Mr. G..,Ti .Murray;,.[the district engineer, explained to the ...Minister that there still remained £B7o'of the £loa(ygrajj|. / f9.r i fhi,s l npa i d,. i It would need'a furf,h,fr n £soO t,o,'do< what:thjei.de?■ putati«n-fl,»ke4f>aw}-thnt .\vn:i!.l nut be.the. ejid..<jf ff)r »n.the .other side: of, the tunnfilf,i<ftEi;,jt/.aveli ! ing about a mile and a. harlf 'aj<?ng I( a, ( ,§jiiir, -,the rpad de-i 1 seended, £hrpughjiP.<l"a,!Jy -.bad . courttry., This rna,d.iih?.>sp,id ! , in the same cate-.-' gory as:,t>e. M«ir?(jj?-oad, and, these 'Were-: two of;the vxjHftti.jjorftls' td make incthe"! whole district. : m, «,■> ) • .pi f: :| Mr.,W.. ; a\. JtfctffftfhanpMr, Stock-well,; and two. others on the. Ministeriof Public Works iJUrfl&pect of the Marco road. ,The d-fpiartroflntal votp-had been declined, by. th.e. Council, Mr. Mi-' Cutchan explainM.jilMN'R'use' the road had not been p.ropfirly; gazetted and handed over to the loealfboily in .good ordehv The road was p, ,x&y bad one, and he thought the Govenfmettt should come to the assistance ofnihe' settlers and give them proper access to their holdings, for the present four-foot track along this precipitious country was very dangerous ' ' Mr. G. T. Murray said that the Gov-, ernrnent had spent thousands of pounds on the track, which was very expensive to maintain. Mr. Stockwell had suggested tunnelling under the saddleas a means of shortening the road, but the tunnel would be too long (thirteen chains) and would cost too much (£3000). To do .'the widening asked for would cost £4OOO. The County Council had not stated during the summer whether it intended to expend the Government grant of £IOOO, but in the autumn •had stated that they would not expend it. and last week he had received authority to spend the money. A'sum of £933 was available, but this would not do half the saddle. He considered this the worst road in Taranaki. Mr. Stockwell said that if the settlers had known the roading v-\s to be delayed like this they woul! never have taken up the sections. The Hon. Mr. Mac Donald said the £9OO would be spent. He knew what roading in papa country meant. "You have to make a lot of roads," he said, "before you get the last one." In answer to Mr. Hine. the Minister agred that a fresh vote would have to be made in additon to ithe present grant. Mr. D. Maxwell met the Minister for Public Works at the, Toko railway station and asked that the Puniwhakau— W'hakaihuwaka road be pushed on to give him access to his holding, which wafi practically the outpost of settlement, and, though hold by him for seven years, was not yet accessible by road. — The Minister promised to inquire into the matter. I Messrs. Robertson, Wilkinson, Thompson and Smith interviewed the Minister in respect of the completion of the | Mansrapapa road.—The Minister promised to obtain a report, with a view of having an amount placed on the Estimates, and said he would authorise the issue of the necessary funds to effect repairs forthwith. Mr. F. Court, chairemaji of the Domain Board at Whangamomona, made j a request of £IOO to top granted to the hoard for improvement purposes.—The j Minister said he would place the matI tor before his colleague, the Minister of j Lands, and would also recommvnd that any grant made be a straight-out one.