POLITICAL ADDRESS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10141, 19 January 1911, Page 5

POLITICAL ADDRESS

MR HOGG, M.P.,AT THE TOWN HALL SOME SEVERE CRITICISMS. Mr A. W. Hogg, M.P., delivered a post-sessional address in the Masterton Town Hall last evening. There was a large gathering of electors, including a number of ladies. The chair was occupied by His Worship I the Mayor (Mr J. M. Coradine), who I briefly introduced the member. Ke stated tha it was unnecessary for him to ask for Mr Hogg a patient hearing. Mr Hogg, who was received with J applause, expressed his pleasure at j seeing sucli a representative gathering. He said they were met together to have a quiet little chat. Ho explained that an attack of ill—.necs had prevented his addressing his constituents during the recess. This illness was produced, in his | opinion, by the foul',atmosphere of ] Parliament buildings. He had, on j the advice of his medical adviser, j taken a trip to Central Otago, and his health was very much improved. WHAT HE HAD DONE. His constituents would probably like to know what he had been doing for them of late. He had been referred to as a free lance and an independent,', but'he-claimed that he had been able to secure a fair share of the Public Works expenditure for i his district, He referred them to the [ new Courthouse, the police station, j and the Government buildings. It was true that these appeared only on the estimates, but there was no power on earth which could remove them \Jrom the estimates. (Applause.) *With the assistance/ of Messrs" Ross and Buchanan, he had got the Wairarapa separated from the Wellington City Charitable Aid district. This .''would,-.greatly Jighten>the swag which, "the'"ratepayers of this..district would have to bear. The people had done a great deal to help themselves. Thanks to their strong and energetic municipal council, they had ' streets and footpaths equal to any in the Dominion, gas almost as cheap as in Wellington, a fine park and recreation ground, educational institutions with accomplished teachers, pretty villas and growing- industries. The Agricultural Showgrounds had been 1 moved to Solway, which was convenient to the railway, and a good position, and he predicted a satisfactory impetus to industrial enter--prises through the establishment, of the Waingawa Meat Freezing Works. To Mr J. C. Cooper he paid an exceedingly*.'high compliment for the energy and zeal he had displayed in getting" the works formed on a co-operative basis. The district from the Rimutaka to Hawkc's Bay was indebted to Mr Cooper for the action he had taken. (Applause.) THE FIVE MILLION LOAN. After referring to the railways (reported elsewhere) Mr Hogg said that although a large number 'of statittesliad. been, passed into' law during .the last two sessions; very 1 few of them were new measures. They J were chiefly amendments, and owing J to jthe patchwork might be desig- [ nated a crazy quilt. Ho consider-■ 1 \ they were going too' slow, and ,:;;..;j..ing'the Old World to outpace them. Self-relunce appeared to bo abandoned, anctythey were living chiefly on borrowed money. The Premier called the five millions loan a distinct success, but if-'any of the Australian States tried to float-a'-loan, and only seven per cent. of. the money was, tho public, would they xall it a Although offered at three and a-half per cent., when all expenses were paid it would probably cost four per cent., and that meant £2-00,000 a year to be found for the British investor. No doubt it had made money plentiful. Local bodies would'get a square meal, and the Advances to Settlers' Office was to be allowed to issue advances up to £3ou).'. This was satisfactory., .but it would have been more satisfactory ..if it could have been done some' time ago, when money .was scarce and settlers wera under severe pressure. STATE LENDING. ! For years he. had urged the ;esI tablishment of a State, lending de- [ partment in the interests of-"local j!bodies requiring money. He reck- ' oned that if'the Government took over the debts of these bodies a saving of about £IOO,OOO a year, on the amount now paid for interest, would be made. The department established under the provisions of the State Guaranteed Advances Act would be of advantage to the Dominion. It was now able to supply local bodies with money at £4 17s 6d per cent., and this, included a sinking fund of ten. per cent, for administration. The Advances to Settlers and Advances to Workers branches supplied money for dwellings and farming operations at four and ahalf per cent. Since the Act was passed, about a million and a-half . had been lent to local bodies. Under the Advances to Settlers system, nine millions had been issued. A PICK-ME-UP. In case that total prohibition should be carried, Parliament had provided a powerful stimulant of pick-me-up, manufactured from cold water, called hydro-electric energy. It was the concentrated motive, essence of lakes, rivers and waterfalls of which New Zealand was richly endowed, and he gave the' Government every credit for passing a Bill to protect and nationalise them. By erecting power hrjuses. and properly . utilising them, it was believed that electricity could be distributed all over the country and made as cheap as dirt, and.electricity was the best general servant that science had yet discovered. Two millions of money

had been voted for these national works, to be spread over four years, and half a million was appropriated for this year.. In company with Mr Massey, ho trfe'et to cut down, the amount to a quarter of a million, but the high pressure spending power of the House was too much for them. THE RECENT DEPRESSION. When symptoms of the serious depression from which „ the country suffered were felt in 1908 he urged the Government to secure plenty of money, so that the settlers could be helped through the Advances to Sottiers' Office, but the Premier predicted the crisis would quickly dis« appear. It lasted for nearly two years, however, and produced untold suffering, the chief sufferers being the workers. Mortgaged settlers were squeezed unmercifully, and the unemployed wage-earner and his family went through a period of sevei-e privation. In an article contributed to. the "North .American Review," the Premip* - attributed the depres-'' sion waves to the panic in the United States and the unrest in the labour market. New Zealand, he said, | had now recovered from "these ' temporary vibrations" and was prosperous. The civil list, Ministers, Judges, and M.'sP. were not affected by these "vibrations," but the working classes were, and there was a great deal of distress. = The slump was: due to the fact, he. believed,; that during prosperous times New Zealand had borrowed freely, and when the prices of exports fell, the . foreign investor became alarmed and ordered" the withdrawal of his.capw tal. A famine was thus produced, and bankers and money lenders; took advantage-of the opportunity to raise, the rate of interest. A harvest was consequently reaped by capitalistic institutions at the cost ofthe industrial classes.; . j'j/' HIS PRESCRIPTION, His prescription for the depression' was anti-monopoly. He considered the monopoly of land and money was crushing the industrial life of New i Zealand. He designated this mono- ' poly a crime in a speech that made the United Press Association howl and Ministerial sycophants threaten. The Government remedy was retrenchment of the Public Service. He did,not deny that retrenchment was needed, because the Departments had grown too big and the Civil Service tree had branches that were decayed and dead;. But advantage was taken of the Superannuation Act to j remove some of the best officers, such as Robinson, District Road Engineer; Glasgow, Secretary,. for Customs; and Kavanagh, 'timber 'ex-, pert. Several hundred clerks were turned out of work, and four or five thousand co-operative labourers were sacked and had to flood a congested ; labour market in the cities. Such a remedy was a mistake, and showe'd a want of consideration. It only intensified the mischief. * ■ ... COST OF DEPARTMENTS. - - . - • « ..-...' , i. -The' number, of .•departments was ; reduced frcm 26 to 15 in a peculiar way. They were rolled together, and covered up just as a baker does his jam tarts. The Departmental expenditure dliving certain years was as | follows: I 1894-5, 15 departments, £2,189,710 I 18994900, 16 departments £2,854,810 '1904-5 > £3,964,930 1907-8, 26 departments, 5,081,210 1908 9 15 departments, £6,146,451 1: r 1909-10 15 departments,. £6,083,679.'" The cost of the departments in fifteen years had nearly trebled. In ten years it had doubled. Last year it was a million more than*two years ago. Could -this be called retrenchment ? LAND AND CAPITAL. The remedy he relied upon for financial depression, unemployment, and everything that afflicted honest labour, was the proper ' distribution of land and capital. Neither;' land nor money should be withheld from their employers—the, people. What ' gave land its value ? Human labour. Why, then, should it be monopolised? There was land enough in. New Zealand for the support of fifty times its present population. There was no need to quarrel about the tenure. The person who did that was spoiling for a fight. Nearly all the best land in New .Zealand was freehold. About, the only leasehold that remained was the National endowment, which must be sacredly guarded, the land bought for leasing under the Land for Settlements Act, and the endowments of local bodies. He would not annoy the persons who proposed to sell these endowments by giving them their true name, but he would say they were low down on the moral scale. He objected to the way in which the land, was administered, especially the Native lands. The King Country, containing millions of acres, had simply been massacred. The freehold versus leasehold question had been argued ) threadbare. Why did he approve of the Crown leasehold? Because he | disapproved of private Tandlordism. \ His desire was to protect the home on the land, not to disturb it or render it insecure. But the land should not be made to facilitate industrial slavery. A terrible blunder had been made by allowing a small army of dummies and speculators to ) pick out the eyes of the King Coun- j try in brder to create a spurious I aristocracy of Maori landlords. j DUTIES ON NECESSARIES. I After referring at length to the de j fence scheme and other matters (reported elsewhere) Mr Hogg said he had always been opposed to duties on the necessaries of life. He reckoned that grain, dairy produce, tea and sugar and articles in common, use should be free Df dnty; With the exception of tea and sugar they were able to produce an abundance of the

necessaries of life and the only conceivable object in retaining a duty on such things as wheat, oats, potatoes, flour, butter and cheese was to give the middleman a chance of locking up supplies and forcing up prices. On several occasions he had tried to get the duty removed from flour, and once or twice he nearly scored a win. He tried the new House, the session before last, but his Bill had a quiet funeral, members giving it a happy despatch in silence. Several members who would havo voted for it were absent. He was not disappointed, however, over its fate, for lie had the Ministry and nearly the whole of the Opposition against the measure, and if he figured in the next Jtrarliament the Bill would be brought forward again. ! THE STATE OF PARTIES. It was difficult to explain the state of parties. He had no wish to speak disparagingly of the present Parliament. Between Mr Massey .and Sir Joseph Ward there was very little difference except that they .gave sparring exhibitions. Their programme seemed very much alike, and they usually supported one another. The present Opposition was entirely different from the Opposition they had when Sir William Russell was leader. There was in the House, however, the material for a newparty, -and it was coming to the front. The country demanded it, and the demand, must not be resisted. It was the party of progress. He did not know, and he-.cared little, [ under what name it would' emerge, i It ; might be "Labour," "Liberal," "Democratic," or "Independent," the name would make no difference. The country required a party that would put principle before expedi--1 ency, that would assert itself undeterred by consequences, and that would trample selfishness and monoi.'polyrin the dust. Ministers were ['needed that would look up the machi inery of their departments, and not [.simply open Shows and attend banquets. Tho country needed a party that would see that land in abund--1 anco was provided for the people, f and that the. cost of living was not increased by the middleman, that would abolish the duty on flour and prevent the residue of the grain and dairy produce they were exporting from being locked up here while the people's pockets were rifled. A party was required that would put a stop to the payment of fat pensions to highly-paid officials, and make insurance optional. An end should he put -:-to the sweating of commerce by banking and insurance rings and the exportation of capital by these institutions. The new party 6houkl take "care that tho co-operative and daylabour system of road construction was not interfered with. It would maintain a purely defensive force of Volunteers and riflemen, well armed and supervised by their own elected officers, the expenditure,, while ample, being limited to an amount strictly within the people's means. ,Tt will conserve the wealth rof the country and save the people's property from being mortgaged-to foreign investors.'.;''', '. V-o , •-: -;•■. -- -There were members, of the House, honest," earnest, unselfish— Avell fitted to lead such a party, but the workers must be brave and unyielding, ;tho Trades Unions must have no dissension if the hopes ahd aspirations of the democracy were to be,jrealised and New Zealand placed once more in the vanguard of Reform. Those who knew him did not "need to ask what side he was on. "He was on the side of the people; on the'side of those who worked hard and often got little for it; on the side of labour as opposed to monopoly. He Avanted to see New Zealand made independent and vigorous, and not a vine leaning on the tree it nourished. The hew party, which he trusted the general election would develop and strengthen, would* have a strenuotis time, because, although it might have numbers, the forces of wealth and influence would be waged against it. The Government had a fighting fund in hand, and if he was not, mistaken the Opposition had the same. On leading principles they stood virtually united, and the workers must regard them as a common adversary. He had no fear of the ultimate result, because an enlightened people would not tolerate class privilege or the oppression of capital once the mask was torn off and the iniquity exposed. On the motion of the Mayor, a vote of thanks to Mr Hogg was carried by acclamation.