THE BY-ELECTION

Taranaki Daily News, 14 April 1920, Page 5

THE BY-ELECTION

MR. MASTERS' CAMPAIGN. EXTIIUSIABTIC MKIOTING A'l' iXUI.KVVOOD. HIS POLICY OUTLINED.

Mr. Robert Masters addressed a crowded meeting of electors in the Town Hall, Inglewnod, last night. Mr. «T. Sutherland (Mayor of Jnglewood) presided. The candidate was received with prolonged applause and cheering on eoming on to the platform. During the course of his speech, he was subjected to a good number of interjections from a email section of the audience, but the meeting throughout was orderly and the utmost good feeling was shown by the majority of those present. Mr. Masters read the decision of the Election Court which unseated him, and declared nhat there was never a convicted man who left a court with a cleaner conviction than he had left that afternoon. (Applause). So clean had been his conviction that the petitioners had had to pay 75 per cent, of the costs of the petition, and he 25 per cent. A Voice: .Who knows? Mr. Masters: Well, I know that I have have received a bill lor .£275, and the other side had to pay 75 per cent, of the total so you can work,it. out for yourself. (Applause.) Mr. Masters continued that. Mr. Hine had said that Jaw breakers should not be law makers, yet he never said anything against Mr. Vernon Seed, who bad been disqualWed for breaking the law and was now in Parliament. A Voice: He was a Reformer. Mr. Masters: Of course he was, and that is why Mr. Hine did not object to him. All that Mr. Hine wanted was to get the seat for himself. Referring to the electoral system, .Mr. Masters said that Mr. Massey'had swept away the second ballot system, and although he had promised to replace it bv a better system, he had not done so, and uid not intend to do. Mr. Hine had said at Stratford that the Liberal Party was as dead as Julius Caesar, but there were only 10.000 votes between the two parties', and if the Liberal Party was as dead as .Titling Caesar then the other party must bv ; shaking with fear.

SHIPPING PROBLEMS, Dealing with the shipping question, Mr. Masters said .that .Mr. Hino had stated at Waitui tint lie was not In favor of national shipping. The candidate asked his audience to keep that statement at the back of their heads while he told them a few facts about Miipping. During the war, th»? extra freight paid on greasy wool cat\h year had been £1,341,55.'!. A Voice: The Imperial Government paid that. Mr. Masters: The Imperial Government did not pay that. . That is a fnld'l le ' l man J' of tlie disciples of the Reform Party mislead themselves into believing. The freight -paid to the. shipping combines was £0,503,415 p«r annum, and the shipping companies hnd made over £417,000 profits. New Zea- '"}<! pawl thein over £28,000,000. The shipipng companies still had tho ships, and what bad New Zealand "ot—nothing. ° Continuing, Mr. Masters referred to what the statesmen of Canada and Australia were doing in regard to shipping and said if it was good enough for them, then it was surely good enough for. the statesmen of New Zealand to do something. \et they hail done nothing. ,The shipping question was a greater question than most people imagined, The P. and i). Company w*« , a huge combine. When he last addressed them ie said that the P. and O. Company had absorbed the Union Steam Ship Company, and since then it had absorbed three other companies. If the quostion was not tackled soon it would be too big to be tackled later on. Around the -New Zealand eoast the public was at tlu' mercy of the Union Company, and were paying through the nose. He knew for a fact that before the war the freight on cement was 10a a ton and now it was 25s a ton. If the pub-' lie stood for that sort of thing and were not prepared to send people to Parliament to rectify matters, then they doserved to pay. DISPOSAL OF PRODUCE.

Referring to the disposal of the country's produce, Mr. Masters said tlmt lie know on good authority that there was a likelihood of the produce being again commandeered at a small advance on Hie present prices. During the war the Imperial Government was making a huge j profit out of New Zealand's produce, and I lie loss on the cheese made in England was made up by the profit whicn the Imperial Government made on Xew Zealand cheese. Ihaling with taxation, Mr. Masters seid, in Hn;i the taxation per head of population jvas ,C 4 7s fid, and in WIS) it ivas .<• 12 7s Sd —an enormous increase 'I he National debt pur head in 1017 of Hip I'nited States wt>s .t'S !)s -Id. of Russia cl.! 10s Sd, of Australia £o7 Us Sd, of the United Kingdom ,-CSI !)s 2d. and of New Zealand the big amount of £132 ()s Sd. He admitted that some of our National debt, was reproductive, but the only way to develop the country and to reduce the National debt was to develop the country's industries. In Australia, the imports . per head ivcre £l2 (is fid, and in New Zealand ;Clil 0s Sd, and it was high time New Zealand became a manufacturing country and reduced the value of the Imports. He was one of those who belic\ed that New Zealand could become a big manufacturing country and could carry a large population, and he Instanced the position in regard to the elport of raw materials such as wool and leather, and the importation of woollen goods in New Zealand. (Applause.) Air, Masters referred to n statement made by Mr. Hine at Te Worn, io tne effect tlmt lie (Mr. Masters) had stated that Air. Hine had voted against granting the raihvaymen a shilling a day Increase in wages in mil!. He had not referred to this matter at. all, sc lie' presumed that Air. Hine must be referring to the last election campaign. What he had said was that Air. Hine had spoken against, granting an increase in wages, but during (he same session of Parliament, bad voted for an increase of salaries to the higher paid officers ol the Department.

good education. The Government trip continually calling out for more settw meiit, but was actually killing settle ment at every turn, not allowing thj children of the backblocks' settlers: U have the chance of a decent education The. conditions in some parts of Tara! naki were deplorable, and St wag hid time something was done in regard tj this mutter. (Applause). j Mr. Masters said that the houslni conditions of the school teadherTfll Turimaki were a standing disgrace W the department, teachers being con* polled to live in houses which wen noi lit to live in. By its action tbj Department was driving the best braiw out of the teaching profession. Anothei serious matter was the health of tai school children. He declared the Stab was making bright and healthy ehildmj into physical deformities. ' j, THE TECHNICAL SCHOOL' '■

Referring to M}r. Hine'e statement that "Masters had nothing to do witl obtaining the grant for the StratfoW Technical School, not even as chairinaj of the Education Board," Mr. MaVtafl said that a friend of his' had seat i telegram to the Hon. J. A. Hanan. wfa was Minister of Education at the tin* the grant was made. The reply wu as follows: "In reply to your telemift, 1 must express my surprise at the at*" surd and untrue statements that hawi been made. I can only attribute thtl to want of knowledge of the facta ift regard to the fine work 'done by Mli, Masters in pressings the claims of tali institution, or to the party spirit bein| used to such extremes that it rerun! to give honor when honor is due. Not only did Mr. Masters join with other! in making strong representations on t&a subject, but he made fervent personal reqitests. Undoubtedly Mr. Marten was mainly responsible for securing tUi grant." j Continuing, Mr. Masters said that Mfe Hine sailed with the Expedition*! Force on October 1, 1916, and WgQ? tiations for the purchase of the site van commenoed on November 47, lWtj, sewg weeks later. Mr. Masters read a let* from the Education Department data) November 20, 1916, asking .for infof mation in referencq to the -site. <H October, 31, 1917, he received a person! wire notifying the grant for the vm chase of the site had been made- Applause). He also read the teleAwN from the Minister of Education audaj him (Mr. Masters) to visit WelliwrbM m connection with the Stratford. Tefiafi cal School. At the laying of tn» foundation stone, Mr. J. W. Boon (chair. man ot the School Committee) said that 'the bulk of the work had fatted on the present chairman of the Education Board. Mr. Masters had helped the speaker in everything that wag done, and witnout this help, they night nW have gathered there finis afternwitf ihe Mayor of Stratford (Mr, J. W. Mo. Millan) said that when Mr. Masters ttook offlco he did not spare himself in working for the establishment of a hleh school, at Stratford. (Applause). *« the same function, Mr. Hine stated that when ho arrived back at Wellington ha found everything in training for I Technical School at Stratford! yet At was now stating that the speaker (Sfc Masters) had had nothing to do with ofc taming the school. (Loud applause)* PROTEST AT DELAY. "The greatest accusation wedi against me," said Mr. Masters, "Is the statement made by Major Hine at Strai> ford that Mr. Masters is a wealthy sua; That statement lias been made for the deliberate purpose of creating a breachbetween myself and the working men* 1 am not a wealthy man; I would Ilk* to be one, though, and anything I hays' got together I have got by mv W cflorts. I have been a success *in m* business, and I trust that I hare been l a success .in my private life, and lon assure you that I will be a success itt 1 arlmment when you put me there " In conclusion, Mr. Masters denied Mr ' Hine s statement that he (Mr. Masters* 1 ' was in favor of amending the electoral jaw. He was not in favor of amend* nig the electoral law, and had onW stated that what he did want wa* that the judges should be given poweß to condone offences when a candidate;' had broken the law innocently (Att»i platise.) r ■

Mr. Masters said he wished to miktfl ti protest. The Bruce election wa* tafcti mg place to-morrow, yet Sir James Mil len had not resigned until four ding after the petition had been heard. witH the writ had not yet been issued foj the Stratford electorate. The TeaaMfl he contended was because the Govern** ment knew that the Reform Party ««■! not organised in the electorate, and were? Riving them time to get organised. * The candidate also referred to MtJ Kine'a statement that he would brimsj «p'Mr. Massey and the wholo of thai Ministry to Stratford to help him inj his campaign if he wanted to, and *am that it was a poor tribute to Mr. HinflV ability if, after eleven yeari" in Parlla»S ment and six months as a Minister,' lie could not fight the election on hi»i own. Mr. Massey and other were not going to represent Stratford InJt Parliament, and they should nps tem'i to the district electioneering. (An*?; plausc). t|

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE. 4 Referring to the last election, MrJ Masters said that he had fought against* very heavy odds, but he had won, Midi won fairly, and hoped to win again; 3 (Applause). In many respects his viewij were identical with Mr. Smith's views,! and when he was again elected, he utfl Air. Smith would pull together for good of Taranaki, and Inglewood would 'J have two live representatives. (Ap«j plause.) He had absolute confidences in Inglewood, and he honestly believe!'*] that the minority which he "had at the j last election would be turned Into tj majority at the next election. fLondl and prolonged applause). | At question time, Mr. Maetera vui asked if he was in favor of prohibition*! and he replied that the people of Iforf Zealand had the right to decide tots themselves whether they wanted pw| hibition or not. All had equal voting 1 rights, and no one had a right to *Jk*f him how ho had voted. (Applause;) 1 To another question, Mr. Masters saidH that he believed in the defenoe of thej Dominion, hut he wan against >miH«l tarism. He believed that the main dt-'.i fence of the country was. the Navy. d Mr. P. Preo moved: "That Inglewood,] in common with tho citizens of oth«t,« parts of the district, heartily disapprove*! of the Reform Party's action in unseat-] ing Mr. Masters on such flimsy ground** ' and expresses confidence in Mr.- Master*;; to represent us in Parliament." ~'! ] The motion was seconded -by Mr. fld Lamb and carried by an overwheteiinj-j majority. On Mr, Masters rising to? speak he was cheered again and and cheers were also given for Mr. Sj iSmlth, M.P., who was amongst;, {the) aoidience. a T^j