Untitled

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10303, 3 August 1911, Page 3

•the platform I am prepared u> supu 011, endeavoured to build up a decern ! structure before to p'ii down one which is now toUorLig tc its fall. My stole object in coming forward seeking to represent you is that 1 am .impelled by a desire''-to serve my country. Jf J. can do that in- the highest sense, Uion 1 shall be more richly rewarded than if J. liatl Ik or* ■singled cut- for the prarxo of the highest in the land. There o.i:i be no loftier aspiration, than tIKJt which causes men to servo their .nation- in some public capacity. Public life-, A-S you know, entails sacrifice. "In tlhe world'® broad field of battle, in tilre bivouac cf life," there is room (for u-si to- prove ourselves heroes in the strife w3iiic.li wages round the forum as well as in the field. There ds work to do for our Dominion, and I claim my .sh'aire of it. I am optimdstiio enough to believe in- tilie great future of this Now Zealand of ours. Ours is a really wonderful country, and it deserves the best from each 'and all of us. Think of the possibilities of development in .the- near future ais wall as in the distant time. Think what It means now that the dread spectre of Asia hlas beem dwaftod into nothingness by the diiplomiaoy of British statesmen., think what that means to our trade and commerce and our industrial development, think how we need to play our part, what the opportunities represented reallly are. We need only wise and careful government, legislation! th'a-t will beget confidence, conduct cf our affairs that will inspire hope, encouragement to our people to progress along approved -and sound lines. These things) will bring iro their train.' all that make for ,peace> and well-being of a liighispirited and progressive race. Yours 1 be the task to give me an. opportun- \ dty ,to work, for these realisation's, mine to- prove myself worthy of that confidence" which. I now bespeak from , you." i Mr Sykes resumed, his seat amidst loud applause. QUESTIONS. In answer to questions, the candidate, .stated that he was in favour ] of compulsory military training; that he favoured -the- bare majority in regard to Donainion and local option ; that lie would sanction the alteration of the Arbitration and Conciliation, Act, favouring, as he had suggested in his speech, a- Wages Board; that he was in. favour of an>eight hours day for workers; that he considered no benefit would accrue from taking the duty off food . stuffs, •• because the prices would not decrease; that he did not believe in Civil Servants taking part in. political campaigns; and tliat he would deal with the railways and the referendum at a later date. THANKS. Mr S. R. Edwards moved that a hearty vote of thanks be accorded Mr Syke© for his able address, and •that he is a fit and proper .person to represent the Ma&terton electorate in. Parliament. The chairman, congratulated Mr Sykes on the excellence of lris> maid- ( en' attempt. He had. been pleased \ to note that the candidate had not ] gone out of his way either to abuse the present Government or to praise up those whom he intended to support. He admired Mr Sykes' i good taste. The Mayor concluded . by stating that he had .much pleasure in- seconding the ihotion of. Mr ■ Edwards. The motion wa scarried by acclam- j 'ataoau. i A vote of thanks to the chairman j terminated the .meeting. '

, needs. Besides, tho saving that would he effected would be considerable. At present, votes must be secured from members, and it is the thought of what a member may or may not get which brings some of them to heel when a more active and independent course of conduct would be more productive of the good and well-being of tho Dominion. There lias been such an amount of shilly-shally about this Local Government proposal, so much backing-down and procrastination, that one feels a measure of disgust about tho matter. But, now, ladies and gentlemen, if such, epithets as I have applied to tho other questions be justified—and I believe they are justified—what shall be said as to the cause of shiftiness of Ministers on the Land question ? To what cause is this shiftiness due? Is it not accounted for by the

I COMPOSITION OF THE CABINET? Did ever anybody see such a heterogeneous collection ?Was there ever such a quaint and curious collection of shreds and patches? Let us look at these. Land Nationalises and Freeholders, Protectionists and Free Traders. No-Licenso advocates and Liquor Traffic supporters, Anti-damu-lers and friends of the Bookmakers, Socialists (in the shape-of our friend the author of homilies and humbugs), and Individualists, Aristocrats, and— I was going to say Democrats —but I believe I would be wrong in making that assertion. Ido not believe the personnel of the Ministry contains one Democrat. How is it possible with such segregated atoms to get anything that may be regarded as concrete and stable? How could we expect to have a clear-cut policy from such fluffiness? I cannot compare the Cabinet to anything but a skye terrier. That 'little animal —smart enough in its way—is so freely covered with hair all over that you cannot at first glance tell which is tho head and which is the tail. Save for this fact, in the case of the Ministry, the head is adorned with a real, live Baronet. Now, as to the future, what is needed in addition to those measures which I have indicated is :

-A CIVIL SERVICE BOARD responsible only to Parliament. The Hon. T. Mackenzie, speaking on the question quite recently, stated that this proposal was not a right one. That it relieved the Minister of his responsibility to the people, which was an unwise thing to do. But he omitted to state that .ihis proposal also took out of the hands of the Minister the right of bestowal of political that it offered equal opportunities to the poor man's son as to the rich or influential man's son to obtain a position in the Civil Service. Merit would bo the only qualification needed, and, not as at present, as is very often the case, political influence or string-pull-ing, Mind yon, Ido not for one mo--1 men hint that the Civil Service is wholly and entirely composed of persons appointed in this manner, nor do I assert that those wlio have received appointments through political influence aro not, in most cases, very capable persons, but I do claim that ©very boy or girl, woman or man, be their social position whatever it may; provided they are otherwise qualified, shall receive an equal chance of appointment to any Government position. I .am an advocate of equal opportunities to all. And this can only bo "brought about by the appointment of a Civil Service Board —responsible alone to. Parliament.

AN ELECTIVE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Tho popular demand made in England for the reform of that ancient institution, the House of Lords, will result, as far as one can judge, in a substantial reform of that Chamber. In tho past mediocrities, by right of birth, have been allowed to sit, adjudicate and. throw out if they so desire, measures framed for the good of the people and passed by a majority in the House of Commons. As I have said la reformation is taking place at Home in connection with the Second Chamber, and it is high. ■ time something of a similar nature was taken in hand in this country. At present our Legislative Council are Ministerial appointees. It .matters not what the qualification they have for the position so long as they are dumb followers of their- masters* Every oilier general .members of. the Council referred to should beelec- 1 ted on the proportional representation basis. So far from liberalising the Constitution during the 20 years of its reijgn the 'Continuous' Administration has^maj^ a'nd'effete nominative system purely in its own interests. Instead of giving the people the power to elect their own representatives of the, Tipper Branch of the Legislature the Ministry has strengthened its hold upon tho members of that Chamber and rnade them more than ever dependent .vpon the Government for their political ex istence. Had the Ward Government tho.least desired to reform the rjpgislativo Council and re-constitute it upon an elective basis, they couM h:»ve done so over and over again, but fchey prefer 'to hold by the vicious and demoralising patronage system, and to the power that system gives. I would advocate a

REFORM OF THE OLD AGE PENSION ACT, by making the qualifying age Tor the. pension for women sixty years, instead of sixty-five, as at present. Tj un indeed pleased to .see that the Reform Party, of which I shall speak 'lsier, have embodied in their.proposals this truly democratic proposal. I personally know women of about the ag? -*ndicated, who have reared a family and done their duty to their country, vho, on the death of their husbands, have been left destitute, and perforce to maintain themselves at the wash-tub, if ill-health does not oft prevent phem. I glory in the pluck of such women as these, but is it not our duty, whenever opportunity presents itself, of endea- ; vouring to make the burdens of these women lighter, to ease the load -~boy have to carry ? I would favour the_ promotion of legislation in favour of* INSURANCE AGAINST SICKNESS AND UNEMPLOYMENT. There is now before the House of Commons in England a scheme for Insurance against sickness and unemployment, which lias every chance of becoming law. , In Germany every workman is insured agains*. sickness and invalidity, so that when there is a breakdown something comes out of the fund to keep his family. That system is contributed to largely by the 1 working iraii himself, the Government • also contributing. Trades Unions and employees say that it is one of the best systems ever introduced into German industrial. life. A somewhat similar system should bo adopted here. The cost of living is now so

high that if sickness or invalidity befalls the breadwinner the position soon becomes acute. The little money saved soon dwindles away, and the family is oro long, in a state of destitution. The many excellent benefit lodges now in operation must necessarily obviate a deal of this trouble. But," unfortunately, lodges do not appeal as they should do, to all the workers. I would not for a moment advocate anything that would tend to be detrimental to the interests of these lodges, but at the same time something must be done to make provision for those who are sick and unprovided for. Unemployment, too, is very often the cause of much suffering, especially in the larger centres. Tho j tendency of the worker to drift to the populous centres is to be deplored, I where if work fails him, his lot is an 'unenviable one. To some extent this tendency could be averted if the people had more facilities to get on the land, and if country life was made more attractive to them. But there are many workers to whom the cry of the land does not appeal, who feel themselves unsuited for farming pursuits, and it is for them that something must be done. Some scheme must bo devised whereby the lot of these people can bo modified. In advocating these r.ocial reforms I do not lose sight of tho fact that nothing must be done to encourage the people to sacrifice their independence. It is the I rugged independence and thrift of its people that has placed Scotland in the very proud commercial position it now occupies. And it will be well for the people if the self-same spirit of independence and thrift dominates this fair land. But despite the possession of these desirable traits, misfortune by way of sickness or unemployment often drags the worker* down to a point where it is imperative that something must be done to alleviate his distress. As I have previously asserted assistance, must not be given by way of charity, for nothing so hurts the feelings of proper pride of a man or woman as to feel that they are the recipients of charity, but a man must be in a position to look upon the help he receives as hi'j by all just rights and dues.

ARBITRATION ACT AMENDMENT. The present Arbitration Act, although more good than harm has resulted from its operations is not giving the satisfaction it should do, or what its author trusted it would do. By the awards made n\> incentive is given the mechanic or artisan to become expert at his trade, for he generally receives, no matter how proficient he may be, very little, if any more wage than the inferior worker. The Whole tendency in the past has been to pull down rather than to uplift the worker. It is very hard indeed to suggest a remedy for this uih desirable state of affairs, but I will be prepared to support any suggestion tending towaids a solution of the difficulty.

WAGES BOARD. I am inclined to support the institution of a Wages Board in lieu of our present system, on similar lines to that obtaining in New South Wales. If a dispute arises in that State, the workers appoint from among themselves a certain number of representatives, and the employers do likewise. No experts, as are employed in the •Arbitration Court 'here, are allowed to be present. The men, fully alive to their own wants, are quite capable oi. meeting their employers, who also know their business. As men to men these meet in conference, the dispute is carefully and fully gone into, and generally a satisfactory agreement is arrived at. The. agreement made is j couched in the simplest language, ] and is as far as possible free from legal ; phraseology and understandable to all. The general cause of complaint with our awards is that they are so full of technicalities that neither the employer nor the employee is quite sure of his grounds.. There should be no necessity to employ a lawyer to unravel the mystery. The awards should not be capable of two constructions. It is to be'regretted that the 1 trend, of our present labour legislation has been in the May of discouraging the desire of every worker to improve his circumstances, to reap the full reward of superior talent, or energy, or thrift, which is the very mainspring of the production of the world. Take these motives away, persuade men /that by superior work they will obtain no'siiperior award, cut off all the hopes that stimulate among men, ambition; invention, and self-sacrifice, and tho whole level of production will rapidly and/inevitably sink. Industry will be : greatly diminished.,in its amount, and ': greatly 1 lowered in its quality. > ELECTORAL REFORM.

The present system of electing representatives is open to criticism on the ground that it'makes no provision for the representation of minorities, while on the other hand it gives majorities no security, for a party that has a large majority of votes .in its favour in a minority of constituencies and small majorities against it in a majority of constituencies will be in a minority in the House. Indeed, it happened in the United Kingdom in two recent elections, that a minority of electors returned a majority of members. I will admit that perhaps the time is not yet ripe for the introduction of reform, but I fail to see why that costly institution, the second* ballot, should not bo superceded by some other method less costly and more satisfactory; and that system is what is known as the Alternate Vote. This system is in operation in many of the States of Australia, and why it i was not adopted here in preference to

the Second Ballot I do not know. Unless it was the fact that a period of ten days elapses between the first and second ballot, and in the country electorates roads and bridges can be constructed (on paper of course) in sufficient number as to effect the desired result. It would bo interesting to know how many bridges and how many miles of road promised as going to be constructed this time three years ago have yet to bo started. I would impress upon tho settler to bear this fact in mind when recording his vote at next election. I do not hint for one moment that that sort of thing obtained in this electorate. This has been regarded as n pocket seat, and consequently the town or country do not require tho sweetening process ini dicated, but if in the near future you note any undue activity in connection i with the construction of public buildings in the town, or the making of improvements of some of our backblock roads, the elector may rest asI sured of the fact that tho Government is beginning to recognise its weakness here. The writing on the wall will bo to them plain and distinct. But harking back to tho Alternate Vote. If there are more than two candidates, the voter is invited to arrar£-> + b" crvdidates in the order of his choice by placing the figures I and 2 against their names. At the first count only first votes are reckoned. If then no candidate is found to have obtained an absolute majority the candidate who has obtained the smallest number of votes is eliminated and his voting papers are distributed according to the names of any marked 2 on them. Tho desired result is then obtained. At last election the Second Ballot cost the country £20,000, and in every instance Avhere the system was in operation not one candidate returned gained tho majority of votes on the roll. The people will not take the trouble to record their votes a second time. In the largo centres no hardship, or very little, is entailed in doing so, but in tho backblocks it is very often a dis- ' tinct hardship, especially on the women, to ask them to plunge through mud and slush to reach the polling place. All these difficulties would vanish on the introduction of the system I advocate.

REFORM PARTY. During my address this evening, I have had occasion to mention the Reform Party, of which' Mr Massey is the leader, and I deem it my duty to the electors to make myself clear in regard to my attitude to the party indicated. For years I, in common with a good many small settlers and others, have held strong views on certain questions which have not been in entire accord with those of Mr Massey. Since announcing my candidature I have been very careful to refrain from identifying myself with that party un-* til they laid down a certain defined platform, which if the party were returned to poAver . they would bring into operation without undue delay, and by which they would be prepared to stand or fall. I was not on Mr Massey''s platform on the occasion of his policy speech recently delivered in Wellington, and therefore had to rely on the j newspaper reports for my information, but I have no doubt that those reports are substantially correct. It appears that Mr Massey was accorded a splendid reception, and this right in the heart of the political centre of the Dominion. The resolution passed at the termination of the meeting was a strong indictment of the methods employed by the powers that bo m the i past, and expressed the determination I of the people to have a more honest j administration in the future. Doubt- ] less many of the electors present at I that meeting were not in sympathy ' with all that Mr Massey said, but they viewed the prospect of the Government's dismissal with equanimity and satisfaction. They, were prepared to sink some of their political differences in order to effect that result. A result, which I feel assured will be the means of promoting industrial and commercial t prosperity. The principles then laid ' down by Mr Massey aire truly democratic ones, a,nd I feel it ,my duty to 'support them. But in making this statement I wish it to be clearly underistood that I will not be a .subservient follower of any man or any party. My motto shall be: "Measures., not iimon!" To reiterate. ;lif returned at the next election, and I feel thea-e is erary indication of that being so> I sihall not hesitate on the very lirstt occasion to record my vote against the present Administration., and. .shall support the .democratic principles laid dowin by Mr Massey in- 'giving' effect to. those principles. But ttheaie. must be no procrastination, on liiis part. The measures, must be' introduced without delay and brought into active operationi as soon, as possible afteirwards, otherwise the pledge that I now make. in. referenoe to my support I shall feel at liberty to iretract, and shall be willing to assist the man or party Avho is prepared to make for progress.

CONCLUSION. There remains not a. great deal for me. to say- an this occasion. I have endeavoured to lay before you matter® which hodd for us all the.greatest intorest. At*-my next meeting here I shall take the opportunity of dealing with the. iinonces .of our counti'y, and especially in-relation, to the administration' of tho-so finances. I have, by presenting to you this •evening some of the main features of