THE STRATFORD SEAT.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1919, Page 7

THE STRATFORD SEAT.

-• ME MASTERS AT WHANGA* •MOMONA. Follow ;ng is the concluding part of Mr Masters' speech, delivered at Whanga- ' jjomona <"> Tuesday evening:— PUBLIC WORKS. .When the Reform Party took office they were going to revolutionise public works- There -were to be eleotric shovels, steam trams and so on. Was the position any better to-day in the Whang*momona—Tahora district than under the Liberal regime? (Voices: No!). It had not improved one bit. On August 7, Major KS»e had said that lie was disgusted with the Reform Party for not improving their public works policy, and stjll he looked forward to the time, after, seven years of stagnation, when it would be- improved. He could tell Major Hine thai after December 1 there would be an improvement. After the failure,of-the present Government was it not fair to give someone else a chance? He (Mr. Misters) was particularly. keen in getting the line opened to Ohura and on the j dirc<ri slc-jimcrs to and. from New Plymouth, as the produce from all the country opened up would go to New"Plymouth instead of (AlMWand. Mother line he wanted tnjiee.qpened up was the Mount Egciont line to the'mountain quarry. At Resent' they- were paying 26s for ltj§|ai' at Whangtfmomona, and it was a ss|ms that this ; shouJd be, when the Gov erimmti with a little more expenditure could open up the line to ,ij\e mountain. where he understood good itinUii could be obtained, and placed in the .trucks at about 6s a yard. Allowing 3s for railage it would be a big saving to Whangamomona and enable them to have better roads. RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. P§ftUn£ the. expenditure on railway cCTatructiira, Mr. Masters said that the Tote for the East Stratford Main Trunk line was £30,000 and £32,709 had been expended. On thw end of the line the estimates provided for £2OOOO and £II,OOO was expended. Th.3 Government had refused three weeks ago to raise the wages of the men to Mb a day in crder to attract them to the worke. On ths Opunake line, which war, not bo necessary to the settlers, who had tarsealed roads, the Government had placed £15,0Q0 o*z the Estimates and had "spent £II,OOO. There were no back block conditions, in the country to be served by th'es»uiKike railway, and no part of the district; 'was very far from an existing railway line. Coming to Central Otago, represented by £fr Win. Fraser, a gum of £13,000 bad ilieen: placed on the estimates and £2oiooo had been spent- There was no deed to say more. The time had come when the North Mand'would have to bestir itself and got jta proper: proportion of public works expenditure. ~ The South Island lines were nob paying-anything like their proportion of interest on completed lines. In the ;Soiith,.'Ts]and the mileage of com. pleted lines was 1716, and in the North Island 15}53,; while the population was 458,000 find;;, 570,000 respectively. The revenue. Aw,,the. North Island was £2,669,363, and for the South £1,597,130, though l;here: were 463 miles of railway less in the North. The South Island had a mile of railway fo» every 264 persons,-apd the North had a mile ?r>r every 535' persons. In the South island the expenditure per head of the population had been £143 10s, and in the North £29 7s. As a business man he would say that they should absolutely stop Spending money in the Fouth Island ujitil the mileage of railways in the North approached more nearly to what they were entitled to on a population basis. He had been asked if he was in favor of 14s a day for men working on the .Stratford line. Before he had decided to stand for Parliament he had moved at the' Stratford Chamber of Commerce that a deputation should wait upon Sir Wui. Fraser and ask for 14s a day and improved living conditions. The deputation went, ana what sort of a hearing had ttey got? They were turned down, point blank. The Minister did not realise that 12s a day was now only worth 8s sd. He was sympathetic about the working conditions but would not budge from the 12s. EDUCATION. There was nothing that he would like. to enter Parliament for more than that he might assist in improving the educational facilities for the children. An undemocratic principle had crept into our educational system and the ap : pointing of a Minister of the Legislative ' Council as Minister for Education show- ! ,Ed that the Government's ideas were out of dste. Sir Francis Bell was not responsible to the people of New Zealand, but to Mr. Massey only- and an important position like that should be held by a man elected by the people and approachable by the people- In Ml Mr. MaSsey had urged the need for reforming the Upper House, and had stated that the. system pf appointment for seven ■years wa9 unsatisfactory, but Sir Frances' Bell had been appointed by Mr. Massey for that period. Mr. Massey had said that men in the Upper House were iipt to lose their independence in two or three years, and that they wanted to democratise the House. What had .been done towards improving the Legislative Council during the past seven years? He said it was very necessary to afford all possible facilities for the education of the young in order that they would be able to solve the difficult problems they would have to face, and that they might be prepared ; to ■ shoulder the heavy burdens due to the war. They wanted in i the first place competent teachers, and ' the present salaries were far from adequate. He favored raising the maximum fto £750. He dealt at some length with the health of school children, and produced a report showing the lesult of the medical examination of a number of pupils attending Taranaki schools. Of 94 children examined in one school 54 had puysical deformities and at another school out of 149, examined 78. required dental treat. ment, 25 had enlarged tonsils, and 17 had, . marked nasal obstructions. The Government had ten nurses and six: doctors looking after 650,000 children. It was the duty of the State to provide niedi- >. cal and dental treatment for alMschool ciiildTen. He also favored free school books which could bs printed by the Government, an increased capitation grant and- the erection'of hostels for all secon„V A STATE BANK. "" He was in favor of a State bank. The profits of the Bank of New Zealand in 1917 were £436,631, in 1918 £407,806 '. and in 19H9 £459,221 and these profits were obtained after the assets had been ; written down tinreasonably to hide the profits. A depreciation of 12J per cent., ' totalling £50,000, had been allowed on j premises and land, when, as they all

knew, land and buildings had appreciated during the war. What had the Bank of New Zealand done out of its enormous profits for its employees? Mr. Beauj champ, at the annual meeting, had said that the men whose labors had been instrumental in no small measure in converting the shares from a valueless or burdensome asset into one commanding a premium of from 200 to 300 per cent., were, they would aomit, worthy ot their generous consideration, and the .least they could do was to provide for their reasonable comfort in their old age. In seven years the Australian State Bank had made a profit,of £1,534,300 and since 1914 the profits had been gradually increasing. He did not favor taking over the Bank of New Zealand, but the Government and all local bodies ithould withdraw their money and the State should Btart a new bank. He would not pay anything for a goodwill the country had created. DEFENCE. Referring next to defence, he said that Sir James Allen was a military man and was anxious to introduce into this country some form of conscription, and bo doubt if he went into power again his ideas would be given effect to. It was to be disguised under the name of "physical dTill," but it was the thin edge of the wedge to create a military caste They fought Germany to destroy militarism. Regulations were now being made for the new system. A large number of officers were in Wellington, and others were being trained. Sir James had said that the object was not military training, but Jje (Mr. Masters) was suspicious of it. If military training was needed they could re-instate the cadet system, which could lead up to the territorial system. After the boys were 18 or 19 nothing more was needed. If New Zealand in its insular position had 100,000 of the finest trained men it would not avail her if attacked by a Japanese fleet. Long training was unnecessary in any case, and some of the finest soldiers In the world who went to Gallipoli were trained in six months. He would prefer to pay an additional amount to the navy and would be prepared to support the raising of New Zealand's contribution to that of the Old Country from 6s 8d per head tp 20s per head. (LABOR. Referring next to Labor Mr. Masters said that Major Hine was professing to be very sympathetic towards labor. He quoted from a speech made by Major Hine on May 12, 1016, in which'the latter stated that the railway servants disgraced themselves by demanding ar/'infease in pay of Is per day. That was the biggest insult that had ever been otfcTed any body of men. Because the men asked for a rise of Is a day to meet she higher cost of living, Major Hine said they had disgraced themselves, and he questioned their patriotism. In his speech the previous evening Major Hine had said he was going to retract all he had said during the past 14 years. A man who was proud of his past did not want to bury it. The same year that l«ajor Sine criticised the railway servants (Hi)l6) Mr. McVilley, who was getting £930, received a rise of £4O; Mr. Jackson had his salary increased from £S6O to £950, Mr. McLean, who was getting' £7OO, waa given a. rise of £SO, while two other high salaried men received increases of £SO and £9O. Did Major Hine protest against these increases? The same year Mr. Triggs, who liau been receiving £IOOO, got £2OO added, Mr. Salmfcnd, Solicitor.General, had a rise from £1250 to £1375 and Colonel Collins and Colonel Campbell, who were each receiving £IOOO, had increases of £IOO granted. It was shoddy patriotism for men to accept these high payments for war services when men who had sacrificed everything to go to the front received so little. ' WORKERS' COMPENSATION. Mr. Masters referred next to workers' compensation. There were twelve companies operating in New Zealand, and the premiums received totalled £78,181, while the payments amounted to £32,574. In Queensland it was made compulsory by an Act in 1916 for every employer to ensure with the State, and the result was that in 1917 the payments on death waa raised from £soo* to £750 and domestic servants were insured free, In Queensland the employer only paid 24s 3d for each 20s paid to the worker, while in New Zealand the amount paid was 41s Cd. PL? favored State insurance and contended that the benefits should operate from the time of injury and that free medical attention should be given. The allowance was not liberal enough. RAILWAY MANAGEMENT. Touching on the management of railways Mr. Masters said that Mr. Hiley had been appointed general manager of railways at a salary of £3OOO a year. Had the railways improved ? In no way whatsoever. It had been the'policy of the Liberal Government to keep large roerve stocks of coal. In 1915 the Government was warned by Mr. McVilley that the stocks were getting used up and yet Mr. Herries allowed coal to be exported at a greater rate than ever. Would not any man of good judgment have refused to allow exportation in the circumstances? It was on record that the Department/ had refused to pay 25s for freight and consequently had to cut into the reserve. Later 'they went to the shipping company again', and "were told that they would then have to pay 30s. Again it was refused. On August 7 Major Hine had told them that £7 per ton had been paid for""Japanese coal. That was the kind of management they had in the Railway Department. REPATRIATION. Speaking of repatriation, Mr. Masters said there was no tne who did not appreciate what the soldiers of New Zealand had done, the sacrifices they had made, and the trials they had gone through. There was not one who did not feel that he had a duty to perform towards them, and they were all anxious to help, them back to civil life and place them in as good positions as they held before the war. He deprecated any at. tempt to make capital out of soldiers to obtain political advantages. The soldiers were possessed of common sense, the same as other individuals. They did not ask, neither did they require, patronage. He was strongly in favor of giving the scheme for the settlement of returned soldiers as proposed by the R.S.A a trial. They all appreciated the work of the local Land Board, which was doing its utmost to facilitate soldier settlement, but it would be much better, to have a local committee set up to deal wun land for soldiers. He would favor a committee composed of, say, a representative o'f ; the R.S.A., a commercial man, and a representative of the Farmers' Union or the A. and P. Association. There were matters requiring urgent attentron in th) 3 direction, and an instance was given to show that the Government system of financing soldiers who wanted to take up land might be quite worthless and force the soldier back on to other institutions. y Mr. Masters concluded amidst applause

with assurances that if elected he would work in the best interests of all. QUESTIONS. Replying to questions the candidate said that he favored full civil and political rights for railway servants, compulsory retirement on reaching the age of superannuation, and the abolition of the ministerial veto. At.the conclusion Mr. Masters received a vote of thanks and confidence, without a dissentient, on the motion of Mr J. MeCluggage, seconded by Mr. J. Burke.