THE WAIRARAPA SEAT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3010, 6 October 1908, Page 5

THE WAIRARAPA SEAT.

MR W. C. BUCHANAN AT MIICI MIKI.

There was an attendance of about fifty persons at Miki Miki Schoolrorm last evening, when Mr W. C. Buchanan delivered ar. address in support of his candidature for the Wairarapa scat. Mr E. Pay ton occupied the chair, and introduced the speaker in a short speech. Mr Buchanan said it was an honour to see such a splendid meeting to meet him on his first appearance in I the new portion of his electorate. It was many years since he had visited the district previously, the last occasion being when he came to buy cattle from the early settlers. No doubt it was a surprise, and, perhaps, an annoyance for the district he was now in to be cut off from its old electorate, and attached to one in i which it had very little interest. Tin speaker had always protusted against the "chess-board" system of arranging electorates on account of the increases of population, flowever, he hoped the change would not be disadvantageous, and as far as he was concerned he hoped to prove that he had done nothing as a public man and as a settler to be denied the honour of receiving their votes on election day. ■ The speaker said that great dissatisfaction existed among the people of the Dominion on the land question. He recounted the steps taken by the Government to keep the land locked up by the leasehold system. He contended that during the late M:Seddon's period of office almost the whole Cabinet was in favour of the optional freehold. The Premier got out of the difficulty in regard to the probable opposition of the urban population tn the freehold by setting up a Royal Commission. In 190f> Sir Joseph Ward had assumed power, and since then nine million acres of land had been set apart, from which it was proposed to withhold the freehold. It was a very transparent excuse to set up the cry that the revenue was to be used for Old Age Pensions and Education. The Government had admitted that the | revenue from the nine million acres , would only be about £SO,OOO, while the Education vote alone this year was nearly a million pounds and the Old Age Pension vote about £350,000. The revenue from the endowment was thus a mere drop in a bucket. Mr Buchanan said he was supposed to be one of the social pests of the Dominion —one of those who owned too much land. Years ago he had owned three places iri the Wairarapa. He had taken thern up in the rough, and perhaps had made not two, but many blades of grass grow where one had grown before. lie had parted with a great deal of it, believing that large areas should b • done away with. But while the Government had ! taken in hand the question of limiting areas of rural land, there was a fair way and an unfair way to dispossess a settlor of his property. A fair way was to purchase the land from the owners and divide and resell it to those who desired it. But. the j Government had made the excuse that the repurchasing of lands was heaping up the public debt of the F onsinion, this being a mere subterfuge to avoid giving those who desired to take up resumed lands the freehold. Speaking on the question of the graduated land tax, the speaker termed the measure "confiscation by law;" and said the Government had even shown its feeling over the point by making the Act retrospective. The spirit of such laws was graphically put by a recent visitor to New Zealand. This gentleman was asked his opinion of the New Zealand legislation, and in reply said; —"It is a large order, but my impression is that people in New Zealand »are continually on the look-out to see if other people haye sixpence more than themselves. If so, they set; about trying to get it. Should they fiat succeed, then an Act of Parliament is passed to bring about the desired result." This was typical of how old settlers were being treated in regard to their lands. The speaker admitted that limitation of area was necessary, as the population was increasing, and of course the area of land in the Dominion could not be increased. However, he regarded the method of compulsory limitation as nothing eihort of confiscation by legislation. Mr Buchanan complained of the unfairness of the taxation which insisted that all who laid out £6,000 in land should be taxed to the extent of £2O, and yet if a person derived £3OO in income from urban property he was permitted to go free of income tax. Why, he asked, should the townsman go scot free and the settler be punished? He never could see the fairness of that system of taxation. Mr Buchanan said the Government had very little pluck, as as soon as any policy measure brought down by them met with anyopposition or objections it was withdrawn. The Government had, for example, brought in a Land Finance Bill which was ttrbe a very useful measure. Its provisions were to the effect that it a man owned a large estate and wished to cut it up among ten or a dozlen settlers, the Government would be empowered by the Act to issue debentures for the purchase of the land. The settlers would pay 4J per cent, interest on these debentures, and in the course of a number of years would be able to purchase the ireehold. The speaker was pleased to see the measure introduced, as it showed, he had thought, that the Government was repenting in its views on the freehold question. But after the Bill came before the House it was withdrawn, much to the speaker's regret. On the question of Native land administration, Mr Buchanan said he considered the Government had been very remiss in its duty, and had adopted very much of a "Taihoa" policy, instead of settling the country with white settlers. He quoted with approval the remarks of the Leader of the Opposition when the latter said that he wa9 in favour of giving to every man any measure which would better secure to him his , holding. Mr Buchanan referred to the Government's lack of good faith in > regard to the votes for roads and bridges. The Government professed to be greatly concerned about the "imprisoned settlers in the backblocks," yet it voted large sums for their relief religiously every election year—sums never expended by large

margins. As against this there were lavish over-expenditures in other departments, such as the Tourist and Telegraph Departments. Touching on labour matters, the speaker said he was opposed to compulsory arbitration from the outset, and had all along believed in conciliation. He dwelt at length on the facts connected with the passing of the preI sent labour legislation, and the subsequent assertions that New Zealand was a land without strikes. Yet during the past two years he believed New Zealand had had more strikes tfian any other country in the world in proportion to its population. Regarding the new amendments to the Arbitration Act, the speaker lauded its various provisions, being pleased to see that imprisonment had been abolished, and also Conciliation Boards, which were constituted partly of agitators in the industrial world. A few remarks by the; ppeaker on the Canterbury Agricultural Labourers' Union caused some laughter, Mr Buchanan stating that t';e Union was not really composed of agricultural labourers 'it all, the president being a tinsmith. The speaker ridiculed the idea of farmers coming under the operation of Arbitration Court judgments, contending that from the nature of the occupation it was not amenable to hard and fast Court rules, and on such groundb the judgment of the Court was to the speaker's view hignly justified. The Shearers' 1 Accommodation Bill was subjected to adverse criticism, Mr Buchanan making humorous reference to some of the provisions contained therein. He thought it a farce to put such a Bill before the House. The Dairy Regulators were similarly criticised, the speaker placing them on a par with the Shearers Accommodation Bill. Dealing with matters he advocated the free admission into the country of articles of clothing and consumption, farming implements, and machinery for colonial industries. Mr Buchanan then passed on to education matters. He contended that the children of the Dominion were not' receiving as high a standard of education as they should to fit ihem to stand against the world, and said that 90 per cent, of the teachers in country schools were uncertificated. The Second Ballot Bill was then ex plained to the audience, the speaker siying that lie was opposed to it. The fact that the licensing poll was decided at the fist ballot complicated the question, and made it so that a second ballot conld not be considered a fair expression of public opinion. He deprecated strongly the "gag" clause, and the attempted prevention of full expression of public opinion. Mr Buchanan re fen-e 1 briefly to the lukewarm attitude of the Govern ment in respect of home defence, especially criticising it.s attitude in regard to the enrolling of patriotic citizens in rifle clubs. Ministers said New Zealand from a defence standpoint was a "a fool's paradise," and yet thu\Govfmment w<\s opposed to compulsory training, a reasonable system of which the speaker believed in as entailing very little sacrifice on the part of the individual. (Applause). Mr Buchanan was then asked the following Questions, submitted in accordance.with a resolution by the Farmers' Union Executive: —Will you, if returred, support irrespective of party the following:— That Customs taxation be for revenue purposes only.—The speaker said, personally, ha had always bfien a free trader, and considered protection a positive waste. It,would be difficult to revert immediately to free trade, as many industries had thrived under protection. To vote against any further attempt to nationalise the means of production, distribution and exchange?— Yes. He was strongly opposed to Socialism, and a believer in individual effort. That ratepayers only shall vote on local government matters in counties, road boards and rural districts, and the present franchise maintained? — Yes. He was^al together against the Parliamentary franchise on local bodies, having seen bad results from it in England. For a discontinuance of co-opera-tive works?— The speaker strongly condemned the Government co-oper-ative workas a wasteful system. Against referendum—He believed such a Bill impracicable, and was opposed to it. That in respect of all Crown Lands opened up for settlement, under the provisions of the Land Acts the successful applicant shall have the option of any of the tenures contained therein? —The speaker's remarks were in support of this proposition. For the repeal of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act?—He was opposed tj compulsory arbitration. Conciliation had his approval if on the right lines. » To givft all Crown tenants a statutory right to , acquire the freehold the conditions as to residence and improvements had been complied with, at a value -to be computed actuarially so that any rebate or rent which has been paid less than the 5 per cent, paid by the O.R.P. tenant shall be capitalised and adcied to the original value of the land? — The speaker had fought for this reform for years, as w»s well-known to his hearers. On the motion of the Chairman, seconded by Mr D. W. Fox-eman, the candidate received a hearty vote of thanks.