THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3036, 5 November 1908, Page 5

THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

THE PREMIER AT CARTERTON,

There was a crowded audience at the Victoria Hall, Carterton, last evening, when the Premier delivered a political speech. The Mayor (Mr W. Moore) occupied the chair, and briefly introduced Sir Joseph Ward to his audience. The stage of the hall was occupied by prominent citizens and their wives. Two handsome bouquets were presented to the Premier on his ascending the stage.

The Premier; on rising to speak, was received with prolonged applause. His opening remarks dealt with the second Ballot Act, the speaker declaring it was extraordinary how some people's opin ion > varied according to the circumstances of the moment. The Leader of the Opposition had at Auckland at a garden party declared himself very strongly in favour of absolute majority rule, and now he was advocating for proportional representation. The minority would be represented under the new system, as , they would have the opportunity to exercise their votes, a privilege ( which most of them would, of course, avail themselves of. Regarding the gag clause, it was designed not for the purposes attributed by Mr Massey, but to protect a candidate against the necessity of having to cover a large electorate between the ballots—a physical impossibility in most cases, ar;d at best a difficult thing for a poor man. As for the Act being a failure the speaker was prepared to allow it ;o be judged on results. Even now it Home there was a strong ggita;ion setting in for a similar measure. The Premier then ridiculed Mr Vlassey's statement that the Opwsition were the "governors of ;he political engine," and checked :he Government when it went too :ast and urged it on when it went :oo slow. The "check" the Opposi;ion had endeavoured to exercise was n the direction of preventing such egislation as the Advances to Settlers Act, Old Age Pension and rindred measures, which it was prelicted would be failures. Classing Mr Massey % as a "humourist," the speaker said:—"We all know Mr Vlassey's massive lightness of; touch, ind when he becomes r)us he can make the, cat augh at him., A.I North its got back lo Genesis and Exodus For his humour, and found some sind of parallel to myself in the Patriarchal Joseph of the Bible. I im indebted to Mr Massey for identifying my_career with Joseph )i "oldV whose Stgwardehipr Mr Massey knows, was exemplified by ;he highest justice, public spirit md forethought. I gratefully, ■herefore, accept Mr Massey's compliment. It is a pity, however, 'or his own sake that he pursued the Biblical parallel as far as he did, for ic modestly intimated that a king vas to arise shortly in New Zealand who would know not Joseph.' 'The cing,'of course, is Mr Massey himself. 'King Massey' may or may lot be a suitable title for the Leader of the Opposition, but the 'rankness with which he suggests n parallel between himself and the n:ient 'king who knew not Joseph' is ?ery courageous. The reign of the cing in whom Mr Massey seems to ind his true ancestur was marked, as he Bible shows, by the very worst 'orrns of injustice and oppression, uid above all, it was marked by the mslaving of one class to another, vlr Massey wants to pose as a nodern Pharaoh—the one of old enslaved the followers of Joseph. Is Vlr Massey's purpose the same? Is le, if he should in the long years to come ever reach power in this country going to complete the parallel ihe himself has suggested, md subject to the classes ot privilege, broad acres and capital, the nasses of New Zealand? What are ive to expect from Mr Massey a3 a nodern Pharaoh? Perhaps the larallel might go a step further.The king in question tried to overcrow Joseph's party, and could not. 3e get drowned in the Red Sea, md I predict the same fate awaits ;he modern Pharaoh (Mr Massey) on ;he 17th inst." (Laughter and ap>!ause). Referring to land matters the spsaker quoted figures to show the r,-ogress the country had made durng the regime of the present Governnent. Over £5,000,000 had been ixpended in the purchase of land, to )l?.ce 100,000 souls on settlement ireas, that area thus settled being •oughly 1,100,000 acres. The most significant point about this was that i full and fair price had been paid "or the land thus purchased, and on e?s than a dozen occasions had comlulsory resumption been resorted to, ind even on one or two of those occasions at the request of trustees of ;he land taken, who held for bene-U-iaries. He defended the setting isirie of the land for the national endowments of education and old ige pensions, contending that five Tiillion acres of the seven millions tet apart were grazing runs. Of that irea, not a single soul had in the irst instance the right to acquire the 'reehcld, therefore it was absurd to contend that the Government were aying themselves out to nationalise ;his area. The mortgage tax was strongly defended by the speaker, vho declared that but for it a 'coach and horse" could be driven

through the graduated land tax, by which means large landholders ■in rhe country could, by mortgaging their lands in a roundabout way to themselves, avoid payment of the t?x at all. There were, people in the ' Dominion to-day paying as much as £6,000 for graduated'tax, and if they Hid not endeavour to avoid this burden how foolish they would be if a device could be found to accomplish that object. The mass of the people believed that the object of the Government in regard to land should be to insure the country against the landlordism which had been the curse of the Old Country. In New Zealand what was the position? The only ] new taxation the Government had levied during the last ten or twelve years was per medium of the graduated tax, which had been an incentive to those holding large estates to dispose of surplus areas and relieve the I land hunger. The people had shown their appreciation of the Government's work by the '.vay in which they had sought after and gone on to the land. (Applause). Regarding Mr Massey's assertion that the, doc-

I. . t the Government was "weak l trine OX * ratef " as outlined by the anddegeot. raer j ca w hen he said speaker m . t found out what the the Government ancJ did it as the people wanted, . Premier defendpeople tbt that jf ed this dictum by a*. ,| d et the j r the American peopte <s®w ]n New railroads nationalised a© ve( j 0 f Zealand they would fee reßfe. , deng one of their heaviest te»s , r J While tfte American railroads Wv

used to assist monopolist miiJliMaaires and crush the small am struggling business man, the New Zealand lines gave absolute equalitj of opportunity to both the small and big man. The Premier then referred to the policy of the Opposition as outlined by a southern candidate, who, with Mr Massey's permission, had set out that the. Opposition platform comprised thirteen planks. These the speaker dealt with seviatim. The first was, "restoration of Parliamentary control of the public finances." This control had never been lost, but because the Government would not foolishly disclose all its business transactions prior to their eventuation, and perhaps spoil its chances of success in most instances the Opposition raised the cry of "lost control." N0.2 plank was "the establishment of a Civil Service Board." This, the speaker declared, meant the handing over the control of the greatest businesses ef the Dominion to a few autocrats. No. S plank was "the establishment of sound local body finance to assure equitable distribution of public money." The Government could not, said the Premier, be expected to do much ■nore than it had dona last session by massing an Act guaranteeing up to £500,000 every year of local body lebentures, ancj itself contributing trie half per cent, to the sinking :und. No. 4 plank was "to settle Native lands, individualise the titles, ind reserve sufficient areas for the Natives." The speaker replied ta Mr Massey's criticisms of the work >r the recent Royal Commission, ieclaring that it had already reported in 600,000 acres of land, and hoped soon to report on another similar irea. No. 5 plank was "the maintenmce and improvement of education." The speaker thought the Governnent had already done this very effectually, and took it as a compliant that the Opposition were now ibout to set out to do it. No. 6 alank was "the reduction of duties )n the necessaries of life." Here again the Opposition was behind iand, as ginger was about the only item used on the breakfast table ivhich still had a duty. (Laughter jnd applause). No. 7 plank was 1 'the reform of the public works sys:em." The leader of the Opposition limself was one of the loudest to :ry out for public works in his part, ind yet, like other members on his iide, was one of the first to cry )Ut about the system. The next -.lank was the "encouragement of suitable immigrants." The Governnent had observed a sensible method n this connection, and the immigrants which had arrived were of a lseful description, and out of a re:ent batch of 300 by one boat only iwelve had assistance in fare money. Vo. 9 plank was "the amendment >f the Arbitration Act to deter strikes." Yet again was the Opposi;ion a little late, as last session saw something carrried into law in this lirection. Encouragement."of private enterprise," trie next plank, was yhat the speaker contended, the Sovernment had done to the utternost. "Ooposition to Socialistic -.endencies," the next plank, was com>ated with the argument that the jovernment had never allied itself ,vith the party which aimed at State :ontrol of everything, but had gone inly as far as was expedient with its various State departments. The iext plana was "the introduction of statute law to ensure purity of adninistration." The Premier said ;hat the Government candidates this jlection comprised 19 farmers, 11 merchants, 10 mechanics, 7 indent ind commission agents, 7 solicitors, I journalists and 6 contractors, and he tsked if among those was there one vho was not an honourable man 9 Passing on to the work of the Advances to (Settlers' office, the speaker compared it with the same departnents in Victoria and New South Wales, to show that the Dominion lad advanced seven times as much as Victoria, and eleven times as much is New South Wales. The Dairy Regulations were touched upon jriefly, the speaker defending their ntroduction as necessary to secure ;he highest price for the New Zeaand product in London. Coming to the financial position of the Doninion, the speaker said they were lever stronger. All loans to fall lue had been amply provided > for, ind the recent criticisms of the Member for Bruce (Mr J. Allen, stating that the finances were in a lisorganised state, were most uniusLifiable, and had met with rebuke "rom even the Opposition organs. Jomment had been made on the fact ;hat the last Gazette had not stated ;he present position of the finances, 3e reminded the critics that the Pubic Revenues Act allowed fourteen lays in which to make up the public iccounts, and this was what was beng done. The Government had been iccused of increasing the public debt } y 27 millions, but of this eighteen nillions were interest bearing, and >f the remaining nine millions por;iohs had been spent in necessary developments. If time permitted, the speaker could show that the Government had reduce(TCustoms duties to ;he extent of £8 per head in the last :ew years. The railway policy of ;he Government was dealt with, and learty applause greeted an announcenent that further, reductions in 'reights on certain articles and the •ates for commutation tickets would je announced shortly. Yet there vere found candidates advocating inTeased rates, in spite of the paranount importance to the country of a iheap railway system. In concluding lis political subjects, the speaker said a record farming season was beng experienced, and in a few months ;ime five millions' worth of produce vould have been exported from New Zealand; He paid a tribute to the oyal.ty and energy of Mr Hornsby as i representative, and said that the government would continue to do ts best in the interests of the people. 'Prolonged applause.) A hearty vote of thanks and confilence was carried unanimously, folowed by loud applause. A complinentary vote was accorded to the ihair, and the meeting closed.