POLITICAL ADDRESS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9063, 11 April 1908, Page 5

POLITICAL ADDRESS.

MR R. MARTIN AT TAUERU. ' THE OPPOSITION PLATFORM OUTLINED. A COMPREHENSIVE SPEECH. Between forty and fifty persons attended at the Tautru Hall last evening, when Mr R. Martin, organiser for the New Zealand Political Reform League, gave an address on the aims ot the League. Mr T. P. Lett was elected to the chair. The chairman made a few introductory remarks, and asked the meeting to give Mr Martin a fair and uninterrupted hearing. Mr Martin, who was received with applause, mentioned that he was the organiser of the New Zealand Political Reform League, and was there to explain the planks of the League's platform. One YVairarapa journal had suggested that the League had had no platform, but the speaker proposed to show how erroneous this { statement was. It was the political situation in the Auckland Province which had stirred up the Opposition to take steps in the direction of organisation, and had been the cause of the speaker being invited to act in ( the capacity he now filled. POSITION AND ASPIRATIONS OF ,THE OPPOSITION In Auckland Province the Government had, in 1902, a majority of 11,000 votes. They had 36,000 votes against the Opposition's 25,000. In 1905 this majority had been wiped clean out, and instead the Opposition had a majority of 2,333 votes. The Government in the intervening period had gained only 3984 votes, the Opposition adding 16,512 electors to their ranks, due to the combination of the Opposition forces. The speaker then referred generally to the results of successful organisation in connection with political campaigning. He paid a high tribute to the work done by the Liberal and Labour Federation for the Government, and said the Opposition supporters had a moral to draw from the tactics of their opponents in this respect. Taranaki, one of the strongest Government electorates in New Zealand, the Opposition had at a byelection, by combination of its forces, routed the foe, and returned with a substantial majority a candidate twice previously defeated at the poll when he had not an organised party at his back. The speaker also quoted other instances in support of the necessity for organisation. Passing on, Mr Martin said tha political aspirations of the Opposition party were that absolute equality should characterise the opportunities open to the heads uf the two parties in the House. He dwelt at length on the one-sided method at present in vogue of the Premier and Ministers touring the country at great expense, while the bulk of the work done on such occasions was the meeting of deputations and the indiscriminate granting of requests. The speaker had good reason to believe that the motor-car used by the Premier for his recent Auckland tour would cost the country £7 per day for its hire. In addition there were to be added the 30s per day granted to the Premier for his travelling allowance, and 30s per day for his two private secretaries. And what was the chief business done? The giving of brief replies to the criticisms of the Opposition, and, as before said, the meeting of deputations. The Government had recognised that its pclicy was not- being found acceptable, and the Premier seized the opportunity of visiting the "roadless north" after a bad season of drought, and promising to give on all hands, or promising to refer the matter in request favourably to one or other of the Ministers of the Cabinet. A GREAT REFORM which the Opposition Party aimed at was the repeal of the obnoxious provisions of the Public Revenues Act of 1900. For the benefit of those hearers who did not know the iniquitous provisions of this Act the speaker said that under it grants passed by the House towards specified works were able to be diverted to a totally different electorate at the will of the Cabinet. The Opposition wished to restore the control of Pai'liament to its own deliberate actions, and have these overriding provisions repealed. PUBLIC FINANCES AND ABUSES. The next plank in the party's platform was the abolition of the present , deceptive methods of presenting the [ condition of the public finances. There had been some glaring instances of this abuse brought to light of late, as in the instance of Mr Shannon, the Government Customs expert, who, last session, was discovered to be receiving an almost princely salary, second only to the Premier's, among Government officials, and higher even than that of the Chief Justice. And yet the Government professed x to have been in complete ignorance of the fact until it was recently brought under their notice. The Opposition Party wanted a clear statement of the whole of the public finances set out for the inspection of all who wished to see it, and particularly to contain the salary ot every public servant in the dominion and all bis allowances. RAILWAYS—PROFIT OR LOSS; Referring to the railways, it had, he said, been alleged by the Government that the return on the outlay in this branch of the service was about 3 per cent, and yet an expert on such matters publicly stated that if the accounts were rightly charged, the loss on the working of the railways would be found to be some £6OO per year. Even the member for the Wa'rarapa (Mr Hornsby) had said in the House that he favoured the appointment of an expert Railway CommisHjner at a salary of £5,000 per year, and it was generally admitted that the railway service was in a demoralised state, and the Opposition criticisms of the service were everywhere endorsed. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Regarding the reform of the Legislative Council, the speaker said there was little doubt this was a reform which every elector in the country would approve. It was generally thought that Sir Joseph Ward would

improve matters in regard to Upper House appointment when he came into power, but instead his choice of legislators had been worse, if possible. He (th« speaker) declared that the Council was nothing but a political old men's refuge—a place for political reject 3. He instanced the appointment of Mr Jackson Palmer to the Chief Judgeship of the Native Land Court as an example of the Government's disregard for the expressed opinion of the public, and ' said that one Upper House member, who had been rejected several times at the general election, had, during nine years of office as a Legislative Councillor, delivered not more than nine speeches—in fact it was probable a less numb jr. These speeches had cost the country, roughly, £2OO per year, and he asked, were they worth it? Then there was the ap- j pointment of Dr Findlay to the Upper House, and then actually to a Cabinet position. Now, Dr Findlay had been rejected by the Wellington electors as a Government candidate, and though he was a man of undoubted ability, was it a democratic principle to act as the Government had done? Throughout the piece the best political qualification for a seat in the Legislative Council a man could have, apparently, was that the electors had rejected him. REFORM OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE. Then came the much needed reform of the public service generally, where promotion shuuld be entirely by merit and not by the present political standards. The reform asked by the Opposition in thin respect was surely a democratic one! They desired the establishment of a Civil Service Board, which wouid oe elective, and would have absolute control of all appointments. This Board would, therefore, not be swayed by political influence, and a radical and muchneeded reform would be accomplished in a highly important direction. LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORMS. Touching on the question of local body finance, Mr Martin said that the League's proposals were that the Government should take over and maintain all the arterial roads in the dominion and maintain them out of revenue, not out of loans. Another important reform suggested was the granting of graduated subsidies to local bodies, so that the heaviest taxed communities would receive the greatest Government assistance, and this would ensure a pounder finance for local bodies. THE LAND LAWS were referred to at some length, the speaker" contending that no land policy would satisfy the Opposition which did not give a person wno took up Government land the option of acquiring the freehold. He quoted various extracts from Hansard and other speeches to show that the Cabinet, as composed at present, cnult' never be expected to grant that just concession. And yet what could the individual members know about the necessities of the man on the land, or how could they formulate advanced poiitical notions in this respect when, prior to the entry into th<? House, the Premier was a grain merchant, the Minister for EJucation a draper, the Minister for Mines a grocer, the Minister for Railways a carpenter, the Minster for Lar.ds a lawyer, the Attorney-General a lawyer, and the Native Minister certainly not a farmer? And the people who were demanding the legislation which aimed against the farmers' ideal of land tenure were those who never intended to take up land, who knew too well th? comforts of urban life, and who, if put on the lane! with a freehold title, would probably make a failure of farming. They cared little for the hardships of the country settler so Jong as they were comfortable. The opening up of Native lands was next strongly advocated, the individualising of the titles in order that the lands may be dealt with more easily being the chief reform based under this head. EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.

Referring to educational matters, Mr Martin gave ungrudging praise to the Government for its work in the cause of education, though he mentioned that it had always had, and atways would have, the support of the best men on both sides of the House, and it was not a party question. The raising of the status and pay to country teachers was. however, an urgent reform yet to be initiated. The tariff revision was trenchantly criticised, particularly the impost on bicycles as compared with that on motor cars, and the speaker said that throughout the Government had PANDERED Tu THE RICH rather than the poor man, the new tariff containing many wretched anomalies. Tne investing of borrowed money in unproductive works was next dealt with. He declared that while 12s of the borrowed money of the Australian Commonwealth was invested reproductively only 7s was in New Zealand. He attributed this in a large measure to EXTRAVAGANCE AND ORNATE•NESS in public buildings, etc., a wastefulness which he strongly denounced. He pointed out that P er day was paid away by theVountry as pure interest alone —not a penny going towards liquidating the public debt, a far from self-reliant policy of finance. At the present time the public burden was beginning to be felt, as already in Auckland from 3,000 to 4,000 hands were being dispensed with in the flax industry through a falling market, and farmers were experiencing a 30 per cent, to 40 per cent, drop in the price of wool. In public works reform the ABOLITION OF THE CO-OPERA-TIVE SYSTEM was the main plank of the League, with the small contract system as a substitute. The speaker incidentally termed the Arbitration Act AN IMPASSABLE BARRIER for those not possessed of many of the world's goods to acquire more, as it denied the right of a man who desired to do so the opportunity of doing an hour or two more work a day to improve his financial position. The Gaming Act disclosed the weakness of the Government very forcibly in regard to definiteness of policy No one knew exactly where thejGovernment stood,

and the Act was typical of its framers. The speaker then made reference to the leading article which had appeared in afternoon's issue of the "Waipdrapa Daily Times," in which tija'writer stated that the Opposition would not fight Socialism. He -(Mr Martin) wished to state that | the Opposition party generally and particularly the Leader of the i Opposition, would fight Socialism to the bitter end, and the Leader had clearly demonstrated his antagonistic attitude to all Socialistic legislation in his recent speech at Whangarei. In conclusion, Mr Martin appealed strongly for support for Mr Buchanan, the Opposition candidate, a gentleman who, the speaker said, had no personal enemies and politically wa» in hearty support of the programme of the League as outlined that evening by the speaker. He impressed upon his hearers the necessity for organisation, and asked them to ponder well the facts he had adduced in favour of the Opposition platform. The speech was listened to with close attention throughout, and a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Martin, on the motion of Mr A. G. Pilmer. A vote of thanks to the chair closed the meeting.