THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 1033, 14 August 1911, Page 5

THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN.

MR W. F. MASSEY, M.P., AT MASTERTON. A FLATTERING RECEPTION. 'Mr W. F. Massey, Leader of the Opposition, addressed a political meeting at the Masterton Town Hall on Saturday evening last. The hall was crowded in every part, the circle being filled with ladies and their escorts.

The chair was occupied by His Worship the Mayor (Mr J. M. Coradine) who said he had great pleasure in welcoming the Leader of the Oppo»sition to Masterton. He explained that, as Mayor of the town, he was supposed to be exempt from party politics. He was pleased, however, to have the opportunity of extending Mr Massey a welcome. The Leader of the Opposition had offered to answer questions at the conclusion of his address, although it was not usual to expect this of visitors.

, Mr Massey, on rising, was received with prolonged applause. He thanked the Mayor and those present for the cordial welcome extended him, and said it was a pleasures to him to be able to address the people of Masterton. Sinoe his last visit he saw .signs of substantial progress.' In one mattor, however, they had not made very great progress, and -that was in the train service over the hill. (Laughter.) An improvement in the railway service was badly wanted. He had not come to Masterton to make war against Mr Hogg or any private member. He was here to make war against the Government of the country. . (Applause.) He poinited out that the present was a time of

POLITICAL STOCK-TAKING. The present Aration had been about five .years in office, and it was their 'duty to look back and take stock of 'what had been done, in this five years. By the reason of. good seasons, high prices for produce and the expenditure of loan moneys tbev had been able to show substantial progress. In many respects, however, there had not been the progress they could desire. In fact, there had been tho very reverse. THE LAND QUESTION.

Ho would like to deal briefly with the land> question. Up till a year or two back they had three systems of land settlement in operation—the casli system, occupation with richt of purchase and lea'e-in-porpchiity. A man could take his choice of these systems. Now the lease-in-pcrpetuity was knocked out, tho optional system was restricted, and they had instead the renewable lease, which irmde a man a tenant of the CrowU for all time. He did not consider tho latter system

fair one. Per.-onally, would give every man the op+io" of the freehold, whether he had, little or plenty of money. (Applause.) Tho lease-in-per-petuitv. which was a bad bargain for the State, wna better than the ncwablo lease. There were two things of which the Opposition was strongly in favour. Thfeso were

LAND FOR SETTLEMENT and roads and bridges. The party did not object to money being raised for theso purposes. In fact, they favoured it. Authority had been given by Pa rliament for the expenditure' of £500,000 per annum in. the acquisition of land for ( settlement, and for ;jomo years this .money had been expended. Last yejir,. however, only £158,796, or about one-third of the amount authorised, had been expended. This showed neglect a.ns lack of energy on tho part of those charged Avith the administration of , the affairs i of tho country. "What was the reason for tho failure to expend' the money that had been authorised? The failure in this direction did not - reflect credit upon Sir Joseph Ward and the party in power. A great .mistake had been made in the assumption of the Lands portfolio by Sir Joseph Ward, who was not a practical man. j (Hear, hear.) He had no experience of land, tnd consequently the Dominion was made to suffer. The Hon. D. Buddo, who was Acting-Minister, of Lands in. the absence of Sir Joseph Ward, was a farmer, but he was a leaseholder, and in view/of the experience of the i last leaseholder-Minister, he was a bit nervous. (Laughter.) A lafge number | of good had been leaving the ! country because they »not get I land to suit, them.' '. It Svas' suicidal • that people; jshpald <beflowed to leave-. [ the country with money whilst there was an' 'abundance of < land in the Dominion unoccupied. (Applause.) If a fanner had. a field, he felt it his duty to makie ii produce .something. The. •Dominion, was a farm oil a large scale,, and it .should be made .to produce all that was possible. What was required was settlement —rqoro settlement, "Give us settlement," said Mr Massey, "and the country will prosper!" (Applause.) -

ROADS AND BRIDGES. The Opposition party had always favoured the grants made from year to year for 1 the construction of ; roads and bridges. They recognised 'that these were essential to the development of the Dominion. Last year the Government had asked for £596,685 for publio works, and this amount had been gladly authorised. Naturally, Parliament thought that three-quar-ters, or two-thirds, or at v least half of this amount would be expended. But how much, was really spent? Only £255,983. which was less thari half the amount authorised. A sum of, £340,7021 remained unexpended. Why was this so? Was it fair to the country ? Wfcs it fair to men in the backblocks who had to face the perils of bad roads and unibridged rivers in the depths of winter ? The system of bringing down the public works estimates in the dying hours of the session was a very bad one. These estimates should be passed early in the session, so that they oould be expended at the proper time of th<? year, and the country would receive value for its money. (Applause.) COST OF GOVERNMENT.

Mr Massey proceeded to criticise the increase in the cost of governmeht. Five years ago the total cost was £7,122,340. Last year it was £9,343,103 —an increase of £2,220,763. This was not loan money or money used for the construction of roads and Bridges. It was true that there had heen an increaso in the population, but the cost of government had increased out of all proportion to the population. (Hear, hear.) tt was a strong indication of extravagance on the part of those who were at the head of affairs. (Applause.) It meant an increase *n taxation and an increase in the cost of living. Wages had risen to a certain extent, hut the cost of necessaries of life and the excessive house rents had made the condition of the worker actually worse tlian it was five years ago. The cost of living had increased

out of all proportion to the increase of population, and the cost cf government had contributed largely to the increased burden of taxation. (Applause.) RAILWAY FARES. The railway fares in tho Dominion had been substantially increased during the last five years. The fares had been increased.to long-distance travellers and to those residing in suburban areas. The sum of £IOO,OOO per annum had been extracted from the pockets of the people by this means. And a large slice of the increase had come from second-class travellers. Was this putting the burden of taxation upon the shoulders of those bast able to bear it? (Applause.) ' INDEBTEDNESS.

In 1906-7 the national debt of New Zealand represented about £67 per head. According to the Hon. Mr Millar, who spoke recently in Dunedin, tho national debt was now £81,000,000. With a million or so of population, this would represent a sum of £Bl per head, or an increase of £l4 per head in five years on every man, woman and child. This was an indication of the manner in which the affairs of the country were being conducted. Mr Massey said he stood as % New Zealander. He was proud of the country —its climate, its soil, its harbours, and its resources. But there was something wrong with the administration when settlement proceeded so slowly, the cost of living increased so enormously, and tho debt per head was so. substantially swelled. (Ap•plause.) He hoped the electors would Stop to think, and.would record their votes in a - way that a change would be effected., (Applause.) , THE MOKAU CASE.

Ho wished to <say something about the Mokau case, with which his nam« had been prominently identified of late. He had not time to go into the whole business but he briefly traced the circumstances which haled up to the acquistion of the 53,00 ! . i acres of land by a private syndicate. One of the provisions of the law was that the consent of the Governor-in-Council, which meant the Government, must be obtained before a greater area of land than 3000 acres would be disposed of. But what had happened iti this case? There had been a meeting of assembled owners, as required by the Act, a resolution was passed, and the sale was actually confirmed by the Native La,nd Council seven days before tho consent ot the Govern.or-in-Council was published. 'Thus, 53,000 acres of land, rich in minerals, had been disposed of to a ,body of speculators at 10s per acre. "Do you think I could have got it at that price?" asked Mr Massey, amidst laughter. He proceeded to state that he had asked for an enquiry, and the Acting-Premier had brought down a statement dealing with the history of the case.. Not one point dealt with by . him (Mr Massey) had, | however, been traversed in that statement. And then what happened? Sir James Cartoll got his statement referred to the Native Affiairs Com- [ mitt-ee, consisting of' nine Government supporters and three Oppositionist?, for a report. He (Mr Massey) asked that the matter be referred to a separate committee, in which three Ministers were included, but this proposal had been knocked out by seven votes. "But," said Mr Massey, "Pin going on! I'm after it!" (Applause). The syndicate which had acquired this land did not intend, parting with; their mineral j-ights. ' These were being retained for the benefit of the speculators themselves. Mr Massey proceeded to refer to the case of a Kawhia block, which had been thrown open for settlement on the system some years back. Intending settlers from all over New Zealand had visited and inspected the property, when suddenly the Government < for the ostensible reason that tho land coritained withdrew the optional clause and offered it on lease only, (daughter.) Compare that Action with the recent action in allowing specular tors to gain possession of 53,000 acres of land and valuable mineral deposits! 'lie speaker said there was a clause in last year's Land Bill, making itan offence punishable by imprisonment for any man owning more than 333 acre? of first-class land to acquire 'further lands. voice: Good enough for him!) "Yes," said Mr Mass6y, : "but what of the men who had been given tlie opportunity of acquiring 53,000 acres of good land, besides the minerals?",■ (Laughter and applause.) , that Liberalism , /then hefailed to understand the meaning of the ■ term. ■ • ■

OPPOSITION POLICY. Mr Massey then proceeded to outline the .Opposition policy fis- he; had stated it recently in Wellington. The fifst two planks in the £latformwere a reform of the fiinpicial system which, would permit of an investigation of the expenditure,' and a, reform of the fiscal system, so that l the cost of living might be reduced. He emphasized the fact that the Opposition did not object to money being raised for land settlement and roads and bridges. The debt was not increasing so much by their borrowing operations as by their methods of borrowing. In theory, the practice of going to London for their money was right. A great deal of money was required for the purpose of settlement. But it was absolutely impossible for the Government to provide all the money required. What r they required to'do was to Use evefy effort to restore confidence. The Manager of the Bank, of New . Zealand. had recently deplored the fact

that money was being sent out of the Dominion. This money should be retained in New Zealand for the development of industries and development of tlio country. (Applause.) Mr Masscy pointed to the fact that, • during tho last few years £121,000,000 of British capital had been invested in Canada. If only a quarter of this amount could be attracted to NewZealand it would give a great impetus to trade. It had been stated in a certain newspaper that during the last twelve years no less a sum than £15,000,000 of British capital had been withdrawn from Australia and New Zealand. It was :iblo for the Government to find money to.replace, that which was going out of the Dominion. The lending departments of the Stato were all right ii:i their way. but when a slump came and money became scarce, these departments wert* apt to run dry, as they had done on a recent occasion. *

POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK. A sum of £12,000,000.was invested in the Post Office Savings Ba"hlis of tho Dominion. Some people asked what bocame of this money. Well, Sir Joseph Ward, as Postmaster-General, lent it to Sir Joseph Ward,' as Minister of Finance. (Laughter.) The . money was lent at rates which were lower than could be obtained on outside securities. Mr Massey was cf opinion that local bodies and private individuals should be able to borrow/ from the Post Office Savings Bank for . the development of the internal. re- , sources of the Dominion. By thin ir.eans local money would be.employed usefully and depository' would get a higher rate of interest than at pres- * ent. (Hear, hear.) Under existing conditions, depositors did not get in- . . terest on their money for several*weeks if tliey made their deposits early in : the month. This system should be. altered. The interest should be made up from day to day, as it was in thel- - institutions. (Applause.) -

INFORMATION WITHHELD. ' ■: The greatest difficulty had been experienced by member's of Parliament; in securing accurate information concerning the finances of the Dominion. Last year their indebtedness had been increased by 6millions. He believed, that the Government would not have raised -so large a sum afe five millions in one loan unless they wanted plenty of mpney in the background : with, which to influence electors. (Applause.) Questions had b°en asked in Parliament concerning tlio tost raising the loan, but no information < was forthcoming. Years ago, if a-. Treasurer could not give the exact oost, he gave an estimate, which was generally hear the mark. ' For tho last four years, however, riot the slightest information had been given concerning the cost of the loans raised. One member had moved that particulars of a loan should be supplied within twelve months of its being carried. This was defeated. It was then proposed that particulars should be given ; within two years. This was also defeated. The Government, with the assistance of its followers, had said that, particulars of the financial operations should not be given„ Was this right? (No!). Of course it was not. 'When they now asked for information they. were told that a majority of the House had decided that it shrould not be i supplied. The fault was entirely with | those who voted with the Government, t (Hear, hear.) Was their any wonder: that the cost of living was being increased and the taxes were going up, when the representatives of the people had no, control over ( tho finances? (Applause.)

DIpATH DUTIES. Some people imagined . that the death duties only affected the rich, and those with large estate. Mr Massey declared that that was hot the case, and cited instances where 10 per cent had been deducted from small amounts. The tax collector called upon them all. In his opinion people should be taxed according to their ability to pay. ; (Applause.) An increase, in the income .tax on merchants alone wouljd mean that this was passed on to the Consumed.' The only men who oould not pass it on were the farmer arid the working man. The prosperity of no country on earth can be increased by means of taxation, said Mr Massey. "We are out to reduce it!*' (Loud applause.)

LAND TENURE. v Dealing with, the plank in the Opposition platform relating "to" the tenure of the land; leasehold .should be retained as a step-ping-Stone 1 to the ' freehold.; plause.) Every: man should be given .-tjhe chance to lease a. bit of land, and •. .when the* time came that,he ' ;cotild make' the fend his own, let him have the freehold every, time. (Applause). Holders of should be permitted ,to convert their tenure on the payment of the difference of 1 per cent, between what was charged for a lease-in-perpetuity and anoccupatio n-with-right-of-pur'chase section. Personally, he did not want a- copper for the settlers that .belonged to the State. Nor did he want a copper for

the State that belonged to the settlers. What interest had the State in a 999-years lease ? The land was really mortgaged to the foreign money-lend-er for a period of 999-years. If tenants were allowed to acquire the freehold this mortgage would be relieved, and the money would be available for expenditure elsewhere. He believed that there should be a limitation of the area to be held by individuals, and a. dscrmination should, be made between those who made good use of their land and those who didn't. (Applause.)

NATIVE LANDS. J In respect to Native ~ands, Mr' Massey said there were hundreds of thousands of acres of good land in the North• which were lying unproductive. and which were contributing nothing in taxation'. The Kawliia township, which had all the elements of a city, was strangled because it was surrounded by Native lands l . He admitted that under the Native Land Act of 1909 a certain amount of sett lement 'had takeni place. There had, however, been, a frreat deal of dust—blowing. Theie was, approximately, 3,500,000 acres of Native land© leased to Europeans., Average tha holdings ,at 1000 acres each, 'there would 'be 3500 tenants of the Natives. There was still left over throe million acres,, of Native land. It would be much better to have this productive than lying idle. (Applause). The system of tenaincy, whether State or private, was undesirable. It had been a curse in. the Old Land, and they did not want it in New Zealand. He abhorred the system of landlord and tenant. (Ap- / clause.) They wanted a system of yeomanry, where.. farmers .would bo their own landlords, and would pa.y no rents to anyone. iHe wanted to see men aS free and independent as it was possible to make them. (Applause) He had a great respect for the Native race. It was worth saving. But it would only ibe saved by the gospel of "work." 'The gospel of "taihoa" would not do it. (Applause.) The Natives should be given every encouragement to\ profitably occupy their own lands. If they did not "do it, the land should be made available to Europeans > for settlement. They should do everything in their power to -break up "the system of communism which at present existed among the Natives. It was a curse to the country, and to ■the Natives themselves. (Applause.) , MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS.

He (Mr Mass?y) had stated that only 63 per cent, of the national debt 'of the Dominion was expended upon reproductive works, and that 37 per cent, was unproductive. The Acting Prime Minister had statocl that 76 per cent, of the debt was reproductive. He did .not- know where Sir James Carroll got his figures. He -(Mr tMassey) had the official figures, and; lie stood by them. The interest upon. 37 per cent of borrowed .money, which was unproductive, had to be foiind by the taxpayers, and the amount was increasing annually. Sir James Carroll had stated that there were 130 Europeans in the Dominion, owning thirteen million acres of land. This was sheer nonsense. There was not a single owner in the Dominion possessed of 130,000 acres' of land.

FARMERS AND TAXATION. A gentleman on the Treasury benches had recently referred to the '.'arrogant assumption of : a few farmer b,odies who had found .their way "into tfre "House. V'. (Laughter')." ; . As if '"ifaawaei-'S, I' wiio.w&re ■ she bf i;l)e liad! ii&t the right to representation.! 'in Parliament f Another member. the liibeMl party had;suggested that' the. railways should he run free of cost, and that the money lost in direction should Ibe made up by the taxation of land values.: (Laughter.) "Think of it," said. Mr Massey, "the people going to Wellington and back free of cost at your expense." (Laughter.) % The Leader of -the Opposition referred to the proposal to remove the exemptios for land; tax, and. to get at the small man.. This was the Liberal method, placing the taxation on the shoulders of the best best • able to 'bear it! (Applause). Mr Massey said he sincerely hoped thatthose who stood out in Parliament for tie preservation of the rights of the small man would ibe strengthened in nuimibers. (Applause.)

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. ■ Another plank in the .platform of the Opposition, was to secure.a. reform in the Legislative Council. , Art ('extraordinary" state- '.pfjgßafrs. &*t | existe'S. The ooridition was t\yenty .times' .worse than', with the , Sofeie oif Ijliords atr. Hidine. He /believed in' a second Chamber, but he believed in its being effective.. Since the appointments* had been made for. seven years, members of the Legislative Council could not exercise their independence. / ; (A'voice: If they do, •they're shot out.) /

Yes, they were shot out ! This was veryunsatisfactory. There tos just ae much reason for the election I of an Upper Chamber as there was for the election of N tlie JLower House. His. suggestion was that they should j apply the. system of proportional j representation to the Legislative Council, "! and have large electorates, but • canvassing, in his opin- ■ ion,' shoiild be stopped. Men should go to the not for the reason that.they,,had served the- party in power, or had 'bought a certaiin ! number ; of shares in,, ■ 'hufe-ljoeaiise 'the-Jr'"had';, .sefVed v : .|he

country. He would not do an injustice to the present Councillors, but would allow their present terms to expire and then have them elected on a democratic basis. (Applause.)

THE PUBLIC SERVICE. | Referring to the Public Service, I Mr Massey said he did not know the number there were in, the Dominion. . Many of the Civil Servants were really good men, and ho had no fault to find with them. What ho did find fault with was' the system under which the appointments were made. It was true that there was a selection made from the annual Civil Service examination. But how dd the others get there? How were the appointments made to the telephone and telegraph positions ? Through the member, the' Minister, and the man with the. votes. That was not the way things were done in other countries. Appointments and promotions should be made according to merit, and not by political influence. (Applause.) He wanted to put a stop to the nepotism that was going on. He wanted tho poor man's child to have the same chance child of the rich. (Applause). He wanted the man with the "bob" an hour in the country to have the same chance as tho xman in the city with £IOOO a year. ("Good enpugh" and applause).

LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL. Tho Government had promised a Local Government Bill for a number of years, but had not brought one down. Last year a sum of about £600,000 had been allocated for publie works, but very few knew where or when it was intended to be spent. And they would not know until a Local' ■Government Bill was placed on the Statute Book. Greater powers should 'be given to the local bodies. It was a bad principle to make a, seat in Parliament dependent upon the amount received in votes for roads and 'bridges. "Think," said Mr Massey, "how this affected the independence of members." It was an unfair system,. and was .bad for the country. (Applause.) The only remedy for this state of things was a comprehensive Local Government Bill. Mr 'Massey . incidentally remarked that the Town-Planning Bill was a useful measure, and the principle involved in it was supported by the Opposition. OLD AGE PENSIONS. The Leader of the Oppostion said

he was strongly of opinion that the ago at which women should be entitled to old age pensions should be reduced from sixty-five years to sixty years. Iu the field of education and in other respects a discrimination of five years was made, and he thought it should be made in respect to pensions. (A voice: It should ibe ten years!) SICKNESS AND UNEMPLOY-, MENT. Mr Massoy said lie favoured a system of insurance against sickness and (unemployment. They had a system in Germany which was giving satisfaction', and he thought this might he applied' to New Zealand. They should not go too fast in the matter, hut should - spend some month's in studying the position, and should do it as soon as possible. ARBITRATION ACT. The Arbitration Act did not encourage a first-class man in the way he should he encouraged. They should pay a first-class man according to what he earned, and a secondclass man similarly. ' (Applause.) Personally, he was in favour of the "share" system. The Wages Board had been found to work satisfactorily in Victoria. He was not going to suggest that this system ishould supersede the Arbitration Court, but he thought it well worth looking into.

THE OPPOSITION. It had been said that Co Opposi- | t-ion was a "brake" upon the Government. This was true, in a meas.ll re. There were timer. • however, when they had to spur the Government on. The Opposition had looked carefully after the expenditure > of, the revemies, and' was. deserving of the gratitude of the country for | having done so. (Applause.) He. was informed that Ministers had ■ been whispering to the farmers and j others that they intended keeping i Lalbour in check. The labourers, in their turn, were being advised not to trust the Opposition, as they (the Opposition,) were endeavouring to reduce wages. As a matter of fact the Opposition was out to pay every man what he earned. Of all the labourers in the Dominion be (the speaker) was the worst paid. (Laughter.) He ■ was. anxious to secure good wages, for the workers, and plenty of work. That was l the : policy of the' But where,, wras the policy *o£ the .GoveEnmfcnit ?] Sir Joseph reported ,/t<> have .said in .America that he "found , out what the peoble wanted and then gave it to " them, " They meant to stick to the Treasury (benches a® long as the people would let them. (Laughter.) The platform he (Mr Massey) had enunciated that night was the most liberal and democratic that had 'been put ibefore the country for years. (Applause.) ."That's our policy," said Mr Massey, "and we're .going to' ©tick to it!"

OTHER MATTERS. Mr Massey referred to the proposal of the Government rto cast the responsibility for erecting 'and maintaining school buldings upon local bodies. The people, he said, were not going to sanction that kind of thing. The members- of Education Boards and School CoWnittees had done excellent work for the Dominion, tand the .people were not gping to allow >the system to be broken up and: part of the responsibility casrt upon local .bodies. (Applause.) "CONCLUSION.

Mr Massey concluded with a reference to the manner in which the privileges of private members of i Parliament had been curtailed by the Md illustrated -his remarks with ari account of the differ. He claimed that no properly-governed country should allow tas<fttio>n to be imposed with- ' out its r<w)re«emtativeß first 'being consulted. (Applause.) Tho clause in the Public Revenues Act which • allowed moneys voted for one district to be diverted -to another should be wiped out. ; (Applause). of heads . of . Departments - not. be increased without Par- * ' liament being consulted.' 'lf they went on as at present,, the people WWlld; have no right, left, other than the right to be taxed. , (daughter.) was] far ..too intwh: ''fffcar'

They should have an independent Bench and an open Court. In conclusion, Mr Massey said they were piling up taxation, and increasing the cost of living. "True Liberalism," said Mr Massey, "will never die; but a Liberalism which is built up on a system of sipoils to the victors mut die—and it must die this year!" (Applause. Ho appealed to the electors to remember their responsibilities at the ballot box, and to see that straight-going, and genuinely liberal men, were returned as their representatives. (Applause.) Mr Mas&sy resumed his seat amidst loud and sustained applause. QUESTIONS. ' A l&rge iwwriber of questions were ;, .asked aiidanswered. | THANKS. Mr J. 0. Coqpor amoved, "That this meeting heartily thanks' the Leader, of the Opposition. (Mr Mas;isey) for his aible address, and his declaration of a policy,and is of opinion that tne —in© has arrived when » change of administration would be in the best interests of the Dominion." Mr S. R. Edwards seconded the resolution, which was carried by acclamation, and without dissent. ■Mr Cooper then called for a show of hands in favour of the. resolution, and fully two-thirds of those present held up their hands. Three hearty cheers were given, for Mr Massey, and a most enthusiastic meeting wa.& .brought to a. close with a vote of thanks to the chairman. 1 *