POLITICAL ADDRESS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10188, 14 March 1911, Page 5

POLITICAL ADDRESS.

BY MR J. T. M. HORNSBY.

IN THE i,.Ab*rERTON TOWN HALL. Mr J. T. M. Hornsby, who is a candidate for the Walrarapa seat in the Government interest, gave '«. ■ -political address in the Masterton Town Hall .last evening, before a fairly large audience, among , whoin were a numbe rof ladies. The chair ''■■■ was occupied by his Worship the :. Mayor (Mr J. M. Coradine), who bespoke for the candidate an imp/artial hearing. ■,</• - , Mr Hornsby, who was- received with applause, explained that Ms, ■ reason N for addressing / a meeting in Masterton- was that they did not know what woull happen in thp next* alterationi ; of boundaries. There were so many of the Master ton pie interested in the Wairarapa ; electorate,that he thought it "desirable to /come here an<i show what manner of .man he was. At the last election at had beeni ©aid that he was* a city socialist, and) had been responsible //for the dairy regulations. ■'. He wish* '..:. Ed! to state that "the dairy regula^- : v tions were not yet in.oration,; arid they never would' be. /v//././ //;.■// ■I /•//■:: I ~i:fWm(m^: : //'// ; ///:;/7V >-/ DjtaKngtwith-■■&e^' ; Dooooinioii, Mr HoriisbyJ; that /ofthe £^,ooo,ooo; 'jtwJw&tifiNfrM Zealand/ a, sum: ■'&£. £22>660,i000 : -yfaafi} less a sum' thait'' £8,000,000 lad;/been, advanced; to p.: workers and settlers /throtighV Adivan.ce®. (to Settlers Office, /■:■ which/ ; had been described by the Cohser^a-: : sves ;,as /&/ .a/hop.'' ,/The ' / Ad- I .';.', vahces to' Settlers;'; Office/' hadj ;&© :, pointed out, Joseph Ward; Of the total debtvof the Dominion, no" leM; than v; 63J11 // per oenfc was< interest-bearing. / Tno'./ speaker, proceeded to, refer ■ to" : Debt /Extinction \ ./Act.-.'! which: ./tvAb^;' ; " passed last session/ which' the ' / tional debt would: be wiped'Qut-ija"/; seventy year's/ It was?; friie ? thatJ the ■ / national debt was being; -increased for /the provision ;of; Dreadn^ghti ;*vnd opening Jup^of' the w&ntryv, > r '. Andi/tte; Opposition^ ; ; whilst./"it : '/dff-v/. : ciahdesd the. Dreadnought, /objected: , .to the taxation,., They wero Striving in this country ito make those'; payf 1 / the; taxesi /^o/,,<x^^/!b^ ; ,do it. T/Sere Jiad oeen/a: great qu£r; ; : ; cry agai st the death duties; b\it ;he '■■■]{ ha 4 not been dble/to/ work up / an/ atom Of sympathy wiii wha :.. were' left' ;thous/anclsi {of' poun-dsfej/fjßdc;?// ; | referring again to th> Vatioii^ ; d|^^* , Mr Hornsby aJsked lif -Vtho- r riot arrived when ;they. -should cry //a. /.-, halt. He. arrange the firiiutices, of the - country (that/the^f-sJloujd , boir^^f^ihe';^ .■repayment;'//^d[ ; Z/cons<^^ .IjianS;, i ;At.'a.isme;..o|;'praspeji^/'t^^ /■sh^^:;^ta)i^;aj^i;^ .' ta^^a-'pi^f^^is^.^ ■ arios l of -j Mi'e,which 'only;/meaht';4he ■•' fattening' ;,of /^.He/^ad;.;,,/ 1 - ;; oppc^ed \f. /fexation/from!/iiwfcb^a^

Intimately associated with the question of finance, was that of the .settlement of the land. He pointed out that, as a result of the policy of the present Government, many thousands of selectors had teen put on the land during the last twenty years. There had been a good' deal of trafficking in land; but he advocated, an amendment of the law providing; for "one man, one lease." That is to say, if a man drew a section ia su ballot, he should not be < ipermitted to draw another. This would -put an end. to the whole difficulty. (Hear, hear.) He would tell any man who held a leasehold that ho could have his freehold at the original value, plus ono per cent. The money «o derived should be ' earmarked and set aside for the repayment of loans. Same would say that tliis way doing away with the people'* inheritance. JWhat nonsense! The people's inheritance had gone years ago- The State would I>e as well off at the end of a period of years by conceding the freehold as it •would if it retained the leases. He did. not believe in the cry of the "down-ti*cd<len> lessees." The whole of the Grown tenants were- doing well. The holders of the 999-year leases had got the best Thing in tho world. They knew it now, and had) been a long time admitting it. (Applause.) \ I DEFENCE. In referring to the question of defence, Mr Hornsby urged that there i were dangers lurking. The best I way to preserve the peace was to be prepared for war. It had been said that in time of war it should be sufficient to g've every man a rifle. He hoped he would not be about when,' these men were set at large. (Laughter.) The speaker referred to an incident at Bannovirke, when the men were served with ball oartiridlge and* fired upon one another. !f they, were going to have a successful system of defence, they must have a system based upon discipline. And they .must pay for it. - THE RAILWAYS/. ' ' ' ;I.' ■ :'■ Mr Hornsby proceeded! ..' to deal iwth the railway-system. .He paid a tribute to the working staff, but said they could nottibe expected tcAvork .without the tools. He asserted that the raiiv7ay Systran had outgiwva the men at'; the head' of * affairs, He had warned the people of the iWairarapa that when the Manawatu. railway was taken over this would be made a district line. But 'because they had a.district tine; was this any. excuse for their having, a wretched rolling-stbck and a defective time-table?'. The%aii who had * constructed .the time-table was apparently not in Ms senses. The

sepaker claimed to have assisted iu getting the wconrL-ckiss '-irriages cushioned. But these cushions were as hard as shoemakers' lasts. He thought they should have more of the comfortable cross carriages for second-class carriages. He (protested against the treatment which was / being meted out to those who could not afford to pay first-class fares. THE MEAT TRUST. ■, Mr Hornsby referred to the attempt he had made to introduce an anti-monopoly Bill. He also men- % tioned that the Prime Minister had stated 1 that if the American, meat trust were to endeavour to capture the meat trade of New' Zealand, the question of nationalising the trade would be considered. He was quite in sympathy with the position taken \ up fay the Prime-Minister. THE "BLACK",PAMPHLET. | The speaker then proceeded to deal

■with the treatment which had been meted out to the Liberal party since it came to power. In spite of the protests of the morning paper, he intended dealing w-ith things of the past, if only to show the evils of the wretched system of party government.- He stated that the. late.Mr Ballance had been charged by the j Conservatives with having sold "Pinchbeck" watches. The late Sir John McKenzie had been charged with apppointing his son-in-law to a responsible position. The late Mr Seddon had been sniped at and as- •. sailed for being: a secret "boss" of the Chinese'on tile West Coast—none other than one "Bun Tuck." The document which was produced in support of this charge was -proved to be a forgery. The late Mr Sed"don 'had also been accused oif introducing the old age pensions to suit the diggers of the' West Coast. It was in 1896' that the atrocious thing "X Rays." was published. The crusade went on, and it was going on still. Sir William Hall-Jones had been libelled over the marine scandal. The late Mr Seddon had been practically charged with murder in connection with returning troopers. The-voucher incident was not the work of the Conservative party, but of recalcitrant Liberals. What was the attitude of the Conservative party over that incident? They rolled it in their tongues as a sweet morsel. They maintained that it was true. V'.ry soon after the 1905 elections Mr Seddon died, and those who had villified him wept copious tears at his funeral. Oh, .the hypocrisy of it! The speaker said he had known Sir Joseph Ward personally for -thirty-five years. He had known him in adversity as well as in prosperity. Sir Joseph W_ard had not only pair! hi; own debts, but ha/1 paid the load put upon him by the Colonial Bank. He had also paid his English creditors.' And yet there were-"things."; going about this country in the shape of men who were. trying to tear this man to pieces. Referring to the "Black" pamphlet, Mr Hornsby said they should consider this ill, connection wiW the conduct ';•■of.;the tivcs' during past twenty, years.. He did not Mr.Ma.ssey with circulating the pamphlet. He did', however, expect of ihe Opposition party that they would have denounced it. He did not object to criticism, but he did think that there .'were things in the private lives of • men. which were sacred. There were ghouls, however, who dragged private affairs into the light of day.

PABTY GOVERNMENT, j This led the speaker to descnoe the system of party government asa curse. He was of opinion that the present system should he replaced with an Elective' Executive. Mr Hornsby referred to ilie fact fthat, three important Bills, had beenput through the House last session in one week, because the Government and the Opposition coalesced. If they coalesced for one week,; why should they not coalesce for, all time? He pointed out that men did not go' to the House to follow the dictates of their own conscience. They were under the crack of the Party whip, and were bound to vote as£hey were told. Personally he had frequently kicked over the traces, and if he-again went to Parliament he would go there to exercise his own judgment on all 'matters. Mr Hornsby predicted that the Conservative party would never be returned to power. There would, however; be a change of Government, and thgy might just as well try to stop it as to stop the tides of the.ocean. He hoped that when the change came the new party would .exercise the same' reasonableness as was being exercised in Australia. Mr Hornsby proceeded to urge the advantages of an Elective Executive, the father of which, so far as this country was concerned; was Sir I William Jukes Steward. With the | Elective Executive must come the election of the Legislative Council. Mr Hornsby. contended that evei-y person having a finger in the framing of the law should he elected. "-":■' TAMMANYISM. The speaker then proceeded to deal

with the term "Tammanyism," as it had been defined by the editor of the | Los Angeles Times. The editor of this J paper had urged that if people of Now i Zealand knew the meaning of the term | they would drop it from their vocab- ! ulary. Mr Hornsby alleged that a j certain newspaper was being used to besmirch the fair fame of this country, j He appealed to his young hearers to be I patriotic to their country and to resent its being libelled. He had never striven to make anything out of politics. Many a man had spent himself in politics to die penniless. That grand colonist, Sir Harry Atkinson, had done so. No man I who clid his best for the country would i make money out of politics. As far as , he (the speaker) was concerned, he felt lit in'his bones that he was going back to the House, But he was going there to do his best for the whole community, and not for himself. If they expected that he was going to be-a servile supporter of every party shipboleth, then they had the wrong man. I Mr Hornsby resumed his seat amidst ■ applause. In answer to a question, the candidate said he did not believe in nationalizing the meat industry if the trust oould be kept back by any other means. He was himself an individualist. "Are you aware of the cause of the drink and the gambling evils?" —Mr,

Hornsby stated that the answer to the question would occupy too long a time. He would say briefly, however, that it was due to people Being unable to resist the temptations. ' 'lfyou are not aware, I will tell vou—it is due to the economic conditions."—Mr Hornsby: "Thank you." '• Another questioner asked if Mr Hornsby would favour compensation | in:cases of accident or death being paid to relations who may live outI side the Dominion. —Mr Hornsby re- > plied that he was in favour of this being done if it couM be proved to be actuarially possible. In answer to further questions, the candidate stated that he did not favour proportional representation; he thought it quite right that Civil Servants should be' debarred from taking ] an active part in politics.

On the motion of Mr Cameron, seconded by Mr Mackay, a hearty vote of thanks was unanimously passed to Mr Hornsby for his address.