POLITICAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 149, 18 November 1914, Page 7

POLITICAL.

TAUMAEUNUI ELECTORATE. ' MR. JENNINGS AT WAITARA. Mr W. T. Jennings, Liberal candidate for Tauinarumii. addressed the electors at the Clifton Hall on Monday night, the Mayor presiding. WAITARA'S PROGRESS. Mr Jennings opened by reference to ' Waitara, and his pride in having "been for several years instrumental in some measure in bringing about some of its prosperity. He hoped to lie again given the opportunity of further assisting in the development of the town. He congratulated the people of the district on the passing of the recent legislation which removed the incubus of the old loan, and said it was' a fitting ending to a great fight in which he, witli others, had been engaged in a few years ago in Laving the Waitara Harbor Act passed on the Statute Book.

DISFRANCHISEMENT. Mr Jennings referred to the extraordinary position of the Taumarunui roll, and added that was the case in most of the electoral rolls in the Dominion. An effort had undoubtedly been made to disfranchise many of the electors of the Dominion, in consequence of a reform by Mr Kisher, head of the electoral department. As a, result of that, over 2000 names in the Taumarunui electorate had been struck off the rolls, and hundreds and hundreds in the various centres, although these people had voted at last election, and had never been eut of i the electorates. He instanced a case of | a resident of Urenui, a resident for over ten-years, who voted at last election and I had had his name struck off the roll. He explained the methods adopted; showing the utter absurdity of the new system inaugurated by Mr Fisher, and concluded by quoting the case of fifty electors in the Tangitu district who had been disfranchised. The Government had also prepared special jury lists by striking off Liberals, struck them oif harbor and land boards, thrown out faithful Liberal Legislative Councillors, passed the Second Ballot Act, and if again entrusted 'to the administration would bring about once more the condition of affairs which had prevailed before the days of the Ballance administration, win l ll business men were persecuted by the financial institutions. His hearers knew of cases where Liberals had been struck out of"the list of Government appointees. There was no need to mention names. Never, he said, during the'days of the Ballance, Seddon, and, Ward Governments had any supporter of the Opposition holding a Government appointment been struck off to make room for a friend of the Government party. But the present Government was afraid of the poeple. The Government got into ;So\ver, not by the votes of the people of New Zealand, but as a result of the treachery of the Judases of the Liberal Party. (Cheers). THE NATIONAL CRISIS. Mr Jennings referred to the great war now in progress, and incidentally congratulated Waitara upon its response to the call for men and for patriotic and relief funds. The speaker mentioned his offer of a corps from the backwoods of Taranaki to serve the Empire at this time, and suggested as a reason for the non-accptance of that offer that Mr Maasey knew he was too good a man to be shot by a German bullet, and that he was wanted back in Parliament. (A voice: You'll get there, and laughter).

THE BORROWED PLUMES. . Mr Jennings referred to the fact that the present Government was administering liberal administration, which they had strenuously opposed when it was I introduced. It was rather remarkable to hear the Tories extolling their Advances to Settlers' Act, for instance, when that measure had had to .be put on the Statute Book by the Liberals j .practically at the bayonet point. The Hon. Allen had on 33 occasions registered his vote against it, Sir Walter Buchanan 9 times, Hon. W. Fraser 21, Hon. Herries 14, Mr F. Lang (the Speaker) \ 3ft, and the Hon. Massey 34. Now, Mr! ■ Massey at Papakura tiio other night, ] Iliad said that his opposition to the measure had been only on account of a pledge to oppose further borrowing., That was a political lie. He quoted i from Mr Massey's speech in the House in which he had opposed the clause allowing an advance up to two-thirds of the value of the security offered. ''Fifty par cent," said Mr Massey, "would be quite sufficient for all purposes," and, with a want of prescience, he had gone ( on to predict a fall in the price of land. That was not all. Mr Massey had, in reply to the arguments that New Zealand had its .'State railways, State printing offices, and so on, and had gone a long way towards having a State bank, asserted, "but we ought to draw the line at a State pawnshop." How could a man capable of uttering such a remark conscientiously administer the Liberal legislation? The speaker, in order to show the conditions existing before the Liberal's cheap money scheme was introduced, quoted a case of 15 per cent being charged on a loan on a security of city property. Then again, the Land for Settlement (Act had been vigorously opposed by the leaders of the present Government. Hon Allen had opposed it on 42 divisions, Sir Walter Buchanan 30, Mr Herries 25, Mr Mafteey, the author of the cry of "settlement, more settlement, and still more settlement," 33 times, Mr Lang 3fi, Hon. Fraser H, Hon. Rhodes 13. The Old Age Pensions Act was another of the (Liberal party's great achievements, which the Tory party had opposed, but was there a man of them who dare to advocate its repeal? The record of votes against this measure gave TTon. Allen 7ft. Sir Walter Buchanan SI, TTon. Fraser 37, Hon. Herries S3, Mr T.ang So, and the Hon. Mafcsev, the record, S7! And yet the electors were asked to delude themselves into the belief that Mr Massey and his party were liberal in their instincts!

LAXD. Cominp to land legislation. "Mr .Tcnninfrs <jnoti'd figures to show that during liis nine years in Parliament as member for Taumarunui and Efnnont, there had been settled in his electorate no less tlian '!.'110.000 acres of land by l.T.Oflrt selectors, giving each selector a family of four, this meant close on fiO.OOO persons found homes on the land. He was proud of the title he had earned as champion of the poor man's right to own a piece of land and to till it. (Applause). .Mr O. TC. "Wilson had stated at Waitara that the Liberal party was opposed to the freehold, but in answer to a questioner, he admitted he did not know the tenures under which land was avail- j

( the House against his party. The enor- ) rnous areas of Crown land converted inJ to freehold during the Liberal adminis- ( tration were a sufficient answer to the j statement made that under the Liberal { Government it was impossible to secure freehold. Mr Jennings quoted the sial.tistics of land settlement and compared | the Liberal and "Reform" records to the disparagement of the present Government..

He would like to see New Zealand settled as Belgium was settled, in small holdings. It was that which had made Belgium prosperous, ilnd virile, and brave, enabling them to withstand the onslaught of the German military au,tocracy. Without such a people the Germans would probably have been in London by now. The great majority of the people there worked tTie land, and were aided by numerous agricultural .colleges and light lines of railways. If returned, he would advocate the re-introduction of the Bush and Swamps Act. so that men taking up land of this , class should be exempt from payment of rents for at least four years, conditional upon their guaranteeing to work their land and not to sell it to the speculator. FINANCIAL. The .candidate criticised the excessive borrowing of the present Government, which was greater than their predecessors'. That would not have been so bad, he'said, if the money had gone in , the making of better'roads in the country. "Very little metal has been put ,on your, roads here," s'aid Mr Jennings, . "since you decided three years ago to give me a s'pell." Yet they heard no complaints from the people who were .everlastingly badgering him when he; ,was their member. The excessive borrowing had alarmed even some of the Reform members, and Messrs Hine and Coates had in the House recently criticised the policy of borrowing so largely for the towns, and neglecting the require,ments of the baekblocks. The Massey party had cried out about heavy borrowing by the Liberals, but they themselves were out-heroding Herod, and - this in a time of national peril, during a war the effect of which none could predict, and when we should conserve our There should have been prudence now instead of plunging, and unless the Government was replaced the Dominion would be returned to the bankrupt position of 1890, the reign of the Conservatives, when married "men were paid 3s a day, and single men 2s. Under the Massey administration, there had been a tremendous rise in the ratof of interest charged to borrowers on mortgage.

THE PUBLIC SERVICE. Eeferring to the appointment of 'Mr , Hiley as general manager of the railways, the speaker said he did not believe , that any man in the position could earn £6O a week. High salaries did not lead , to success, but to luxury which did not , tend to the uplifting of the people. Then look at the Royd Garlick billet at £ GOO a year and travelling expenses, with a staff staying at the first hotels. .Was that the way to reduce the cost of administration? lAs a matter of fact the public service was costing more than ever, on account of the red tape that hal been introduced. It had been stated by the Reform party, and by Mr C. K. Wilson, that the Public Service Commissioners had been necessary to stop the corruption in the eivil service. He challenged Mr Wilson to cite one instance in which any Liberal Minister had ever interfered with the order of selection of candidates for the Civil Service, pointing out that the appointments were filled by the successful candidates in the civil service examinations, absolutely in order of merit.

Mr Jennings mentioned three cases of death from accidents in the bush in Taranaki. In each case, though they had been insured, the relatives were unable to obtain a cent of insurance. He introduced a story told at Eltham by the Hon. W. Fraser against himself as a "robber of widows and orphans," because he was director of an insurance company, and so that if he were returned he would do his utmost to prevent these companies sheltering under a clause that the insurance money would not be paid except to dependents upon the victim of the accidents.

UNEXPENDED VOTES. The votes placed on the Estimates for expenditure on roading, whilst they appeared very liberal, were only votes after all, and in Taumarunui, in 1913, of the vote of £27,000, only £13,000 odd had been spent; in Stratford, out of £23,000, only £10,843 had been spent. Talk about commitments! The commitments on the latest Public Works Estimates were such that the Government would hardly be able to expend all the votes if it remained in office for the next live years. TIIE DREADNOUGHT.

Speaking in thin direction prior to last election, .Mi". Wilson had said, "If you put mo in Parliament you won't have promises on roads, but metal." Asked where lie would get the money, he had said, "I'll sell the Dreadnought." Would he say that now? At the time tile Reform Party was making party capital out of the gift of the Dreadnought, and it was one of the matters misconstrued by them in order to bring about the downfall of the Liberal Party. Would Mr. Wilson take the platform now and advocate the selling of the Dreadnought to buy road metal? The gift'of the Dreadnought had been proved the act of a statesman. Mr. Wilson's statement was that of a politician. Which would they have? (A voice: Sir Joseph Ward!)

AID TO CROWN TENANTS. Acting on his (Mr. Jennings') suggestion, the Liberal Government had assisted the Crown settlers on tlie Tangitu block to finance the purchase of cows. Now Mr. Young, a "Reform" member, was claiming that it was the Massey party which introduced tlie scheme.

SLANDER AND MISREPRESENTATION. Mr. Jennings referred to tlie campaign of slander, libel and misrepresentation waged by the Reform candidates and Press prior to last election, and deplored that there should have been such hitting below the belt. Mr Okey, in the neighboring electorate, had circularised the electors urging the "need for a change of Government to secure clean and honest administration," the inference being that there was something dishonest going on. Mr Massey had publicly inferred that there was collusion between Sir Joseph Ward and the head of the. Treasury to rob the people of New Zealand. They had heard a lot of what a search of the pigeon-holes would disclose, but in over two years of office tlie Government had not found one scintilla of evidence to justify the charges and insinuations made. , CULPABLE DEUAY. ' »

5 the exploitation of the masses of the «people. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL REFORM. The much-boasted Legislative Council reform came in for criticism. The recent appointments to the Council by the Massey Government had been very old men, of an average age of 73 years. Tliat would be excusable if they had been for years engaged in work such as they were now called upon to do, but he asked, was it reasonable to expect that these old men, utterly inexperienced, should properly carry out their work of revising the legislation passed in the Lower House? What did the Legislative ■Council reform amount to? Up till 1!)24. there could be no election of the Legislative Council, and the Tory Party bad its majority in the Upper House till then to kill any progressive legislation. They had already had an instance. For some time efforts had been made to give women workers in the woollen factories reasonable, conditions of labor. The House of Representatives .elected by the people, passed a Bill to give the necessary improvement, but it was blocked by the "twelve apostles" of Mr Massey, thus fulfilling the purpose of putting a drag on such beneficial legislation. THE MOKAU MATTER. The Reformers had made a howl at the last election about the Mokau land deal. They were silent now, for, as the result of the Liberal Government's policy, the Mokau land syndicate had spent more money in the development of its block than the Government had spent t in similar work in the whole electorate. ARTERIAL ROADS. Mr Jennings renewed bis advocacy of State control of the, mailt arterial roads to relieve the settlers. He would support lines of railways for opening up the country, and instanced the necessity for such a line from Waitara to Mokau. NATIVE LANDS. The real credit for reform in native land legislation was due to Sir James Carroll, under whose act Native lands were being rapidly settled. DAIRY REGULATIONS. There had been a very big outcry by the "Reformers" at last election against the dairy regulations. Yet he had the authority of a big buyer of dairy produce for saying that it was only the State supervision and State regulation of the dairy industry that made our produce acceptable to the people at H»me. »

PENSIONS. He supported the Military Pensions Act, and if returned would extend it so as to provide pensions for widows of men and boys who were killed in the Maori war, or for their eldest daughter, for it was the womenfolk who had suffered most. Mr \Tennings had a word to say in praise of Sir Joseph Ward for passing the Widows' Pensions Act, but which women and children were provided for by the State if the breadwinner were removed. EDUCATION. He urged uniformity in school books to be used throughout the Dominion. Was our secondary education system free? He knew of the case of a brainy boy, the son of poor parents, who qualified for admission to the secondary school, free of fees. But how were the people to pay for the two suits of uniforms required the costly books, contributions to sports clubs, magazine funds, and so on? He believed that such dues should be met by the State im tlio cast? of "free" scholars.

OTHER MATTERS. Mr Massey had boasted of the prevention of monopolies, yet he had allowed our troops on the transports to be exploited by the canteen proprietors. Those -men were entitled to cheap food, and tobacco duty free? But what did this boasted liberal Government do? (A voice: Kobbed them!) It was of no use for Mr Massey to talk in this way, but what the country needed was a man of action. Was it right for the Government party to put town before country, and country against town? What was good for the town was good for the country, and it was the duty of statesmen to work for the unity of all classes.

-CONCLUSION. Mr Jennings summed up the Liberal platform: "Human beings against money." He asked to be judged on his previous performances. "If you return me, and I believe you will—l know Tc iKiiiti, I'm sale up there—(A voice: So you are here,)I—l 1 —I will again work in the best interests of every man, woman and child in the electorate unselfishly." Ho was not what might be called a strong party man. This was being to some extent ruined by party. Their own member, for instance, had never voted against his party. He was like a piece of string, and when a man became a mere automaton, he could no longer be worth sending to Parliament. (Applause). QUESTIONS. In answer to questions, "Mr Jennings said lie believed in an electoral scheme which would ensure majority representation. The present "first past the post" system was inadequate, permitting minority representation. It was not likely that tho 'Liberals would be dominated by the Red Feds. It was Mr Massey who was in collusion to that party at last election, and it was at his urgent request that the Otaki Reformers supported Mr Red Fed Robertson in order to oust the Liberals. The same gentleman was endeavouring to use tlie Red Feds again. Mr Jennings would favor a reduction in the licensing majority if the people in the King Country—now a white settlement and no longer a Maori district—were given a voice on the licensing issue. He was opposed to Bible-reading in schools. Replying to Mr Buchanan, Mr Jennings read from the Wellington Evening Post giving the Auckland Education Board's emphatic denial to the statement made by Mr C. K. Wilson, M.P. for Taumarunui, that the education boards were neglecting the education of the children in the backbloclw. Mr Garland, tlie chairman of the Auckland Board, had stated that a man who made such statements had no right to be in Parliament. (Applause). Mr Jas. Rattenbury proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Jennings, and of confidence in him and in the Liberal party. Mr Rattenbury referred to Mr Jennings as an indutrious and straightforward worker injtha nnhlie. intereatat