THE EGMONT SEAT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 102, 16 September 1912, Page 8

THE EGMONT SEAT.

-Mil. ASTBntY AT RAIIOTU. \) Heavy rain, accompanied by thunder H mid lightning, greeted Mr. Astbury 011 L his arrival at Rahotu on .Saturday even- i ing, but nevertheless there was an at-1 tendance of about a hundred at the Hall.j! Owing'to Mr. Ant bury having addressed! a meeting at Opuuake earlier in theii evening, it , was after 8.1)0 before the meeting commenced. Mr. Astbury o-ayc a forceful address, lasting about an hour , and a quarter. At times he was subject , to interruptions from two or three polili- ! cal opponents, but these interruptions j he always turned to good account, and lie was listened to most attentively ; throughout. Mr. Willoughby occupied ', the chair. J, PERSONAL. In opening, the candidate stated that < he was standing in the interests of the . present Opposition, who truly represented-1 ; the democracy. Their legislation of the j.ast twenty years was in the interests' | o? the people as a jyhsle, and that was j i why ho .supported them and was no\v|' contesting the seat. When he first de-l cided to enter the contest, ho had laid I down a standard of action which he had striven hard to keep up to. There were momentous questions of policy to dis-\ cuss, as outlined in the Budget, and lie I had no time for personalities. He had thought that 'his opponent would have acted on the same principle, but he had J hoc, and on some occasions had meji-| tioned his (the speaker's) name on as many as forty occasions, and in fact it was only after pressure from his own party that his opponent had refrained from doing so. At Manaia his opponent had stated that Mr. Astbury had said that the graduated land tax was net sufficient, but he thought Mr. Ast-j bury's proposals were too drastic. He could not recall .having made drastic I proposals. He had advocated the gradu-1 ated land tax because, if the individual, avoided payment of his just dues, it' was only right to compel him to con-1 trilmte'to the revenue. (Applause.) His friend on the other side had said he 1 believed in loyalty. This was a splendid principle, but where was his loyalty? In 1908 he had even refused te submit his name to a caucus of the party, and' now was chosen by the party who had not proved loyal to the man who was [ loyal to them (Mr. Bradshaw Dive). A voice: Bunkum! THE HIGH CO3IMISSIOXERSHIP., Mr. Mackenzie had been offered and had accepted the position of High Commissioner, leaving a vacancy which he was striving to fill. Did this appointment not imply that they were unable, to find a man on their own side eapable filling the position?—("Rot!" and "Yes.")—an unfortunate admission to have to make? Did not Mr. Massey, too, think that by this appointment he ■could kill two birds with one stone, i.e., send' the best man available and also I create a vacancy whioh he believed would j be filled by a man who would support. him? But the best laid schemes of I mice, men and Massey "gang aft agley," j and the Government had got into the position where they were most likely to i lose the election, a fact which would be' a certainty when Tuesday came. SHAM LIBERALISM. The present Government termed themselves the true Liberals. The Reform Party, as they were called, were sham Liberals. John Ballance, Richard Sedition and the men who h»d been in power during the last tweitv years, were the true Liberals, and he 'instanced the Liberal legislation that they had placed on the Statute Book— votes for women, municipal franchise, old age pensions, advances to settlers, purchase of estates—these were all unqualified successes. In telegraphs, railways and penny postage, and many other wavs they had advanced the interests of the'democracy. At the time the Government now in power had opposed all these. They had caded the State Money Office a "pawn shop' even. Yet they were not proposing to repeal one solitary measure that they had condemned jn and out of season. Did not this show that the burden of sham Liberalism rested on their own shoulders? PUBLIC DEBT. Their opponents were always talking about the burden which was nankin" oyer the people's shoulders in the shape of a debt of over eighty-four millions. He quoted from the Minister of Finance (Mr. Allen) to show the effect that, though opinions may differ as to the amount which was self-sup|>ortin<*, yet it was over £90,000,000. That was to say that fifty millions of the national debt was not only earning interest, but was even producing more. Then, besides the Maori war had cost £2,700,000, aud Defence over £3,000,000; and would anyone say that the money should not have been spent on defence? Roads and bridges had absorbed seven millions, publie buildings five and a half millions, and harbors and lighthouses over a million. Other items were also enumerated. Then,there were old provincial liabilities, and also the deficiency in revenue to he taken into consideration. Who was responsible for the deficiency in revenue? Was it uot the Conservatives, who were in power before Ballance? A voice: Who are the Conservative Party? Reply from the hall: The Massey crowd! CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. Prior to last general election the Reform Party had cried out that the civil service was honeycombed with fraud A voice: So it is. Mr. Astbury: I want my friends to tear off the skm of Conservatism that is on them, and lam going to help tear it. off. In the Budget, he continued, appeared the statement that the public service demanded "the careful considera-l tion of Parliament, followed by another stating that the Dominion was'fortunate in possessing many public officers who were serving the State faithfully and were actuated by a high sense of duty It further stated that many appointments had been made to departments) without due consideration trf the merits of applicants. Again, it said that the alterations to be made by the proposed legislation would not necessitate either dismissals or reductions in pay. If the .service was honeycombed, why had the Government not the strength of character to dismiss the unworthy? It was therefore, untrue that, political patronage had ever existed, for Mr. Massey had said no dismissals should take place Mr. Massey had said that the civil service was the best in the world, whereas 1 only a few months ago he said it was I corrtipt.

GRADUATED LAND TAX. , The present Government were mas- > querading as Liberals, <m tin; strength of their graduated hind tax. This he analysed at considerable length, pointing out l hat it was only a proposal to take the burden off the shoulders of the weallhy men, who would still find means to avoid subdividing their estates. He could not understand small farmers supporting an administration like this, backed up by wealthy .men who avoided their liabilities. The graduated hind tax dealt, .wilh estates of over £.5000, but what did the Government propose in the | way of reducing direct or indirect taxation for the vast bulk of fanners who own less than £o(K)0 worth of land, unimproved value? Why, lie was certain that fully 80 per cent, of land-owners in Egmont owned less than £ 5000 worth of land clear of liabilities. The Budget was silent on this question. It remarked that the Customs duties was a, difficult question to tackle, and practically put it off. I A voice: It's been the same for the last twenty Tears. , I Mr. Astbury: Oh, has it ? The Liberals, lie said, had altered the tariff on {■several occasions, and had saved the i>eoiple £1,000,000, and as a result they now |had practically a free breakfast table. The Massey Administration had had twenty years to think over the matter, !,but had done nothing. They had, however, found time to reduce the tax on 'the wealthy, but not on the speaker or ■his audience. • ! A voice: Give 'hem a chance. |. Mr. Astbury:. I'll not give them a chance. Every vote I cast in the House will be against them. (Applause.) When the motion was brought forward, he continued, to allow children under five to travel free on the railways, and up to fourteen years at quarter-fare, squattocracy voted it int. "Reform Party? Jlt should be ''Deform' Party.!" .GOVERNMENT'S STRONGEST PLANK. The Government was not without a 'policy, and he referred to what he considered its strongest iplank. In the | Budget, after dealing with juvenile dellinquency, they said they were going to ,100k after the feeble-minded epileptics. [ They wore going to pursue a vigorous , building policy in. anticipation of an annual increase of mental defectives. Possibly they were preparing for those who ' | were trying to grasp the Government's' '■policy. (Laughter and applause.) j POST OFFICE STEAL. Mr. Astbury stated that during the I last election the Prime Minister, speaking at Winton, asked what sort of a ' Government had they in .power, when the Finance Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) lent to tne Postmaster-General (Sir Joseph Ward) the post office funds at a [ lower rate of interest than it could be \ obtained for outside, and said that they : \ should pay the Post Office Savings Bank the same rate of interest they had to i \ pay to anyone else. Yet what had the' new Prime Minister done? He had bor- ; rowed £BOO,OOO at 3% per cent., after I I both Sir Joseph- Ward and Mr. Myers 1 :' had arrange to give 3% per cent. This '. | was designated by Mr. T. Wilford "the , iPost Office steal," and as such it would Igo down to history. In reply to interjections, Mr. Astbury' ||remarked: I'll reply to questions later. il know I'm making some of your Conservatives sit up. In regard to finance, Mr. Massey was . saying that the rate of interest was get : , ting easier, whilst Mr. Allen (Minister : of Finance) said they were hardening. . That probably was an excuse to save • borrowing, ajid he would not be sur- , prised to see Mr, Massey and Mr. Allen . before long nghting like Kilkenny cats. i COST OF LOANS. ' Some of their friends on the other side had said that the last two loans had cost 5 per cent. This was not so. Mr. 1 Eraser (present Minister of Public ' Works), speaking during the election campaign on the criticism of the £5,000,- ' 000 loan, said that he thought, consider- ! ing the circumstances at the time, which were somewhat adverse to raising money, the price was not excessive; and '. he was right, as at the time New Zea- , land raised its £5,000,000 loan, the net interest on which at 3y g per cent would ' be £3 12s SVJ-d, Queensland had to pay 1 £3 I3s By»d for a £2,000,000 loan, and the Port of" London £3 17s 4y 2 d for a £ 2,000,000 loan. ? The financial authority » would say that was not a success. Then » Mr. Mackenzie's £4,500,000 loan had been i floated at £99 cash for every £IOO of . paper—a record. Here they saw the 3 value of Sir Joseph Ward's Public Debt , Extinction Act, Which provided a sinking > fund for all our loans and gave the t lenders security, for during the same ) period Queensland onlv received £96 for 1 every £IOO on a-£2,000,000 loan. t An interjection drew the reply: I'm , sorry for you, but truth is truth, and [ facts are facts. If you can't see them ,- I can't help it, but I'm giving them. . Much capital, continued Mr. Astbury, 1 had been made of the fact that twenty- . three millions of the public debt would [ be falling due within the next seven , years, but he pointed out that the sinki, ing fund would provide a considerable [ amount. Moreover, some ten millions . was repayable within the Dominion, and . of this the Government Departments > held some seven or eight millions, and > when the time came would be very glad to renew thorn. Thirteen millions were s for renewal at home, and financiers did not regard renewals as adding to the ■ National Debt. We were in a better position than any of the Commonwealth States, as the amount to be renewed . only represented 27 per cent, of our [ total debt, whereas' New South Wales had to renew 38 per cent., Tasmania 38 per cent., Queensland 32 per cent.', and ! the Commonwealth 30 per cent. j i THE BLACK LIST. ;. He now came to what he termed the black list; that is the list of big landholders in New Zealand. He had careI fully analysed the position, and found that in Canterbury, Wellington and Hawke's Bay 193 persons owned land of an unimproved value of £8,599,89G, on which the improvements only amounted to £2,401,817. In Auckland seven owned |£242.72fl (unimproved), £92,000 (improvements). In Taranaki they owned £31,000 (unimproved), £14,000 (improvements). It is the representatives of these people that denied the railway concessions asked for children. No doubt they said' they had a right to the land, as they and theirs had fought and died for it. "But, don't believe them. Remember, that the bulk of the Maori troubles occurred in Auckland and Taranaki, whilst the bulk of the big estates is elsewhere." He believed Egmont was going to return a man pledged to break up these monopolies. Sir Joseph Ward's Finance Bill caused great opposition among land (owners, because they believed it would

compel them to subdivide their Estates legitimately for the benefit, of the young men of New Zealand, and not by means of bogus transfer and mortgage among their own 'relations. (Applause.) LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL.

For some years it had been recognised that some' change was wanted in local government. It was a serious problem for any Government to tackle. Mr. Russell had drafted a Bill, and submitted it to a conference, which suggested certain amendments. The.Massey Administration had also confirmed it, and no doubt, when it became law, would take the credit for it. RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION.

He had stated in a previous speech that* the railways were costing £11,123 per mile to construct. His" opponents said it had cost £15,000 per mile to construct since then, but he pointed out that when the)- too kinto consideration the fact that all the lines laid prior to 1891 had been replaced with heavier metals, and that more mountainous country was being penetrated, he thought the cost, under £12,000 per mile, was not exorbitant. Mr. Hemes said the cost was £10,773 per mile. Prior to 1891, 1842 miles had been laid, at an average cost of £BOOO per mile, under the old contract system, but then it was through' easy cpuntry. and wages and material were much cheaper. There were -now 1313 miles to construct at a cost of about £12,000,000, before they could say their railway system was anywhere near completion, and some people asked others to believe that this could be done without ■'borrowing. A voice: Go slow.

They must either do without the railways or build them by borrowing or increasing taxation. Was it, he said, reasonable to call upon people at the present time to pay for the making of Tailways which would practically last for all time, and not leave any of the burden to be shouldered by posterity? Certainly it was not reasonable. No local body would erect a bridge or metal a road in this way. The only way was to borrow, and to steadily extinguish the debt by a sinking fund out of the profits. THE OPUNAKE RAILWAY.

In regard to the Opunake railway, he ; staffed that he was in favor of the Te i Roti-Opunake railway as outlined in the Commission's report, and also a branch • line to Manaia. Regarding the line from i Opunake to Moturoa, this would cost | £500,000, and he did not think there was 1 much chance of such an ambitious • scheme being proceeded with. He under- ; stood, however, that the people of Ra--1 hotu were prepared to guarantee the ' Government against any -loss, as they I realised that it would pay the district <■ to do so, owing to the immense saving ' in road maintenance that a railway i would mean, the cheaper freights and J the abolition-' of the present uncertainty t of the whole thing. This seemed to him ' a sound policy, and if he was elected ' and they authorised him to do so, he ! would say to the Government: "You go ! ahead; borrow the £500,000 and proceed s with the work, and if there is any deficiency we will pay the deficiency." In reply to a query, he said that the Comi mission: toad said such a line would pay, 1 but immediately it came before the i House the Government would say they did not know such an ambitious scheme ~ was going to be brought down! j LICENSING. t On the licensing question, he was in . sympathy with the 55 per cent, majority, . and the criticised Mr. Massey's action i at the recent division. 1 LEASEHOLD. Touching on the leasehold question, he : said that he was in favor of the free- ; hold and giving the leaseholders the op- ; tion of converting, subject to an actuar- | ial valuation. He would do anything to ; prevent aggregation. The Liberals were leaseholders as far as the endowments of 9,000,000 acres were concerned, and ; these were set aside for charitable aid, education arid old age pensions. Mr. Massey did not proposed to interfere with these either. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL REFORM. In regard to Legislative Council reform, he thought the proposed measure would render it difficult for the democracy of New Zealand to get any laws passed that were opposed by the wealthy. If the present Chamber was abolished, an advisory board should be formed, as, after all, the duties* of the Legislative Council were of a revisory nature. WEST COAST LEASES. This was a question which, he must admit, he did not properly understand, but he was in favor of doing anything that would settle the tenure of the white settler. _ He was opposed to any disorganisation which would occur hy puttin" the leases up to auction, and whatever the people decided was just he would support. CONCLUSION. In concluding, he thought that Mr. Massey had made a mistake when he had not backed up his statement that there were not enough fanners in the house, by choosing a commercial man to contest this seat, instead of a farmer, who was shouldered out because they thought the ether man had a better .chance of winning. (Voice: Bunkum!) .Mr. Dive had been beaten by the strongest man in the House, and if the Massey Party had been loyal there would have been no doubt who would have been contesting the seat to-day. This was essentially a dairy district, the in- : dustry was making vast strikes, and they wore entitled to be represented bv some one interested in the industry. If elected, he would be in the unique position of being the only dairy farmer in the House. He referred to his career as ' school committeeman, councillor, etc., and he wound up by appealing to them ' to support him if they believed he represented the democratic party that was ] aiming at uplifting every man, woman a»nd child in the Dominion. (Applause.) : The losing of- this seat by the Govern- , ment would be a Wow to vested interests and the wealth of the Dominion. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS. In answer to questions, Mr. Afitburf »

said that he could not remember eve* • advocating the absolute majority. Ht was not in favor of having the prohibition vote separate from the general election, on the score of expense, and also. because on that date they were more likely to get a consensus of opinion. H« was in favor of the single-tax, but recognised that it was an academic question and beyond the range of practieal politics. He was not, in favor of licensing bookmakers, but was in favor of retaining the totalisator. Men's betting proclivities must have vent, and that wa*. the fairest, cleanest and best way of betting. He would vote against' th't bare majority. He was in faror of reducing the duty on tobacco or on any article that would not affect industriejt. ' He considered the co-operative system ' infinitely ahead of the old tender systern. He believed it was an honest attempt to cure an evil. He had advocated the establishment of an agricultural col-. ■ lege on the reserve at Normanby set aside for the purpose. He understood the Opunake people had power to rais* a rate for harbor purposes if ttiey. wished. He would assist to amend th« law by winch the power to elect a harbor board had expired by lapse of tiine, and would also grant the Opunake peopie any harbor reserves within their area. He could not give an off-hand answer as to whether it would be better to place Maoris on the same basis as Europeans for voting, instead of having j separate representation. He would be in favor of increasing the country's interest in the Bank of New Zealand, so that it might eventually become a -State 1 Bank.

On the motion of Messrs. T. Smith and W. King a hearty vote of thanks was accorded the speaker, who, in thanking them, added that if they thought he, \vould worthily represent them in the House it was their duty to make every, effort to elect him, (Applause.) A vote of thanks to the chairman ter- ■ minated the meeting.-