THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10470, 7 November 1911, Page 5

THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN

MR A. H. HERBERT AT MASTERTON. Mi' A. H. Herbert, one of the Opposition candidate mr the Masterton electorate, addressed about 250 electors- in the Masterton Town Hall last nigh.. Mr J. H. Pauling occupied the chair, and. briefly introduced the candidate. INTKODUCTIOX. In his opeaiing rema,rks, Mr Herbert, w;bo was received with applause, slated that Aew Zealand a,: the present time was in a similar position to Canada. The latter Dominion had beau led for lif'teen. years by one of the finest statesmen, in tJie Empire; but through long years of office abuses had crept in, and public extravagances wore rife, 'line pooplie luad determined tnat a change of Government was necessary, and, to tbo sairprise of the wliole wor ;, .d, the Lanrieir Ministry went out. 'l'Jve speakeir ventured tilie prog-no sti cation fJhat the Ward Ministry, wJiioh bad held office for twenty-tone years, would be relegated to the Opposition benches. The present Administration had come into jpiowei- by the will of tine Labour Party, with the late Mr John Ba.Uance at its. head, and it would go out by the will of the same party. j

A. LIBERAL. Mr Herbert advocated tllie turning out of /officio of the present Government. He said he was one of the most Liberal men in New Zealand, yet Ji© (wanted to turn out the Government which called itself Liberal. THE LAND. He went on to deal with the land policy. Ma- T. E. Taylor was right when "he .said the Government had. noland policy. Reference was made to the immense areas in the North Island which remained unopened. Mir Herbert favoured the fireeflioOd, but said the (people mdgjhib be put on the land regardless of the question of tenure,' When the present party come into power there was a\ cry that the people could not get oni the land unites® they were rich. He did not favour the disposing of Land by auction, as had been carried on by the present Govemimeait in t(he Soutli Island, because by this means the rich man was benefited. It was the. duty of the Government to put the people on the land at the lowest price possible. The ainn of the State should be to foster production. He thought the Government land ougbt to be. settled at the price whidh it cost the Staibe. The- profit to the State would come later in increased production. They were told by the party to-day that this land could not be settled because- there. was 110 means, of access to.it. Yet, he said, !ioanis had repeatedly been raised for (tlhey stated) opening up the backMtocks witlh roads and bridges. Mir Herbert held .that it _wa& the., duty. of the State to assist in tlie increased production of the land by hcQiping tflie settler's to learn how to cultivate tlie land.

CLOSER, SETTLEMENT. There was at', present on. the Statute Book the Lands for Settfement Act, wihicili was one of the finest Acts introduced by the present Government. But tine Act had not been carried out. He referred to the opportunities of cutting 1 up Wairarapa* estates, which had been rejected by tJhle Government, who said the price was too high. He instanced the Mataihiwi and Rangitumau estates, .which were subsequently sold privately at enhanced prices. OnHy £168„000 had been spent last year in purchasing land. He asked the people who' were going to vote for the present 'Government to consider that fact. He said that ithe Matahiwi estate would have settled: 200 people, and wouDd have been am ' immanisie benefit ito Masterton. This he thoughjt wias 'the solution; etf the decrease of population. 'Out of seven counties, Mastertom was t2i© only one which showed! an increase. The candidate i said a@grega.tiom had g»ne on," and the small man had gone away. The- attendance® at many of. the country schools had gone down, materially. NATIVE LANDS. There were a little over five miSlion acres of native lands,, and in spite- of promises, no Aot for dealing with these lands had yet been brought down by Sir James tool. In thirteen years the value of Native lands in tine North Island had increased' by eigjht and a half mourns. Befiore the land in the Forty-Male Bush was settled by tine whites, it was practically of no value.to the Natives, but, the progress of secernent had made the remnant of Native .lands in those parts of enormous value The time had come when the natives, had an equal right to be on the same footing as the Europeans, They had been educated, and were not much behind the white man. The Seople should bear- 4*. in ™nd when, 1 should he placed "upon *» *«*. ZZ, they, M* of being »n----producers, would become producers.

FINANCES. Mr Herbs* .then dea** witfh. tfe fin. aneee of the country. He urged his hEarwß to consider tire foot that tiiey were the sharehoildeirs in' tab Oomponv that ran New Zealand, and they ought to know something about it He did not think such- a prosperous country should owe so much in loans. puMic debt was £Bl per head, and the peopfe had to pay flie interest on that amount. Yet, w,e wondered why the cost of livamg Some blarned to store, keeper; but the fetter was w the same position as the rest of the people He did not think it necesOT to "borrow £-4,000,000 per year m such a- prosperous country as this. W» did not require to borrow money for luxuries. What was wanted w«s

I money for opening up the land, PUBLIO WORKS. To reduce the expenditure, he said that lie would start by using up-to-date methods for public works, by which he claimed from 25 to 50 par cent, of the oosst of those works would be saved. Even the men employed on the co-operative works were against the sysitem. He would have no political railways, such a,s the Midland Railway. For Now Zealand to pay half the cost of the wireless instalJAi.titori', wlien An stroll a "was paying tliie same amount, was nonsense. N (A voice: WHinit about the Dreadnought ?) The Dreadnought gift wa-> another ornaincnit. TSiiis reminded ]i,ini that Mr Hiogg was i" the Cabinet, when, this {gift was made, and wlien asked why he sanctioned it, he said ho must have been mri'sted. "Did you ever hear of a Scotchman being misled oven" the exp.eaiidiil.iaro of even sixpence?" asked the candidate, amidst I laughter. \

LOCAL BOEIES REFORM. Tlie reform of file Local Bodies system was another method >by which the expenditure could be reduced. Local Bodies should oonctnict their own roads "and bridges instead of tile GoTOnwnent doing the work. A voice: Tlhe Waipouia bridge! Mi- Herbert: Yes, a. mistake had been made; hut he did not know wlh had made it. Penhiaps somebody had been miskd. (Laughter). Continuing, Mr Herbert said hundreds of thousands of pounds weire spoilt ; n patronage, to induce the people to rote for the Government.

FOUR RECORDS. Nlew Zealand had four record's. She owied ni»i'« money per head than -lay other par.t of tihe Empii-e; tine cost of administration, wins higher; the direct taxation was higher; aijd the cost of living was nigher. TQite party tin, power had told the people, that flhey were going to give tlue worker a free breakfast table. This had not bieen done. Mir Herbert held that all Good necessary for tihe people shixul be admitted free of duty. What was wanibed was a fair deal between the producer and the consumer.. Going back to the excessive expenditure, Mir Herbert drew attention to tuio fact that £2OO had/been voted to the Prime Maniser's' electorate for drainage wort on private property. Most people looked forward to improvements in their part of the country, but the Govern/memt should not make promises to bribe the people of New Zealand! to vote for them.

OLD AGE PENSIONS. The reform of the Old Age Pensions Bilil was mentioned in the Budget because the Opposition Party had included in tiheir platform the reducing of the age.limit, and the allowing of pensions to women. •

MILWAY VOTES. ] Talking of the radik'uys, Mr Herb- I ext said that tihe Government had attempted to buy the vote of the Civil "Seryaaiitsi by increasing their salaries by three bids, and tihe men were satisfied. It was -the, counibry man that was.keeping the railway® going; yet they were never considered. He criticised the action of the Government in putting through so many Bills in snicih a short time in tihe dying hours of the session. STATE NOTE ISSUE. Mr Hogg had been turned out of the Government for advocating a State note issuef Yiet, Sir Joseph Ward himself was now proposing the same thing. The speaker agreed to a State note issue if thane was a profit to be made out of it; but wihlat be did object to was the; pasising of such measures in the dying hours of the present Parliament in ordler to c&tcfli the votes of the people. Many other measures were promised, but wjhy were thley not thought of before? LEGISLATIVE COUNGEL. Mr JJjeaterjJv was : not"; in, favour of the present LegolSiliative Council, by which means - the Parliament could sifcop a 'Bali at the back door. (A voice: Wlbafc about a Single Ohamibar?) - , . He did not favour a Single Chamber, bub he tliougfljjt tihe. Legisjllaitive Council should be elected by the peKv pie. TITLES'. Speaking of Sir Joseph, Wiard l '® title, Mr Herbert said) it was a pa'ty that (the hereditary -Stile sOiould be introduced in such a way in a democratic country like Now Zealand. A voioe: Didn't hie give the IW&adnoughit fox it? , Mr Herbert: If he dfid., the money was* the people's. The reward should, haive bean.' v for tihe epople. . (Applause)'.

POSITION OF CANDIDATES. Mr Herbert said he wanted to make it clear tifoat lie was not allied mitih any other candidate in this v election. He was not working hand in band with. Mi- Sykes. Wltoat lie had «aid was that he would vote for Mr Sykes in tlhe second baHJot if he was defeated at the first. The speaker said lie wa& prepared to vote with the OpposdtiLoin only so long as they abided by the'platform recently laid down,. It had been said that Mr Mjassey wlas not a fit leader. He had not been given a trial. It was said Wfhen. Jjohn Bafance died that Mr, Seddpn would not make a leader, but his work proved that he did. Ifhe (the speaker) got onto Parliament be wou'idi not be a dumb dog, and would ntot be the tool) of any pairty. He had heard it mentioned in Masterton thlat he wlas> not spoken of with favour in Etetalhuna. Mjt Herbert said he firmly believed tbat ha would get a block vote in Eketahuna. He wanted to figfht tlie battle straight, and was going to do so, and he believed that when the numbers went up He would not be far, behind. (Applause.) QUESTIONS. The chairman then invited the audi-

ence to a«k whatever questions they desired-. 'Mr S. R, Edhvard* a&ked if Mr Herhertt was in favour of the Ma - railway. Mr Herbert: "I aim solfidly <v . opinion that it should go tlhrougjL. , Hh© Minister had said that such a j railway would increase the value of fchie land in. t3ie vicinity of the liueby £3,000,000, and tliis alone was i sufficient reason for tlie construction ! of the line." | Another question was: "Would you oppose legfosjliation tikat would interfere witli the sports and pastimes of the people?'' Mr Herbert: "Certainly. Sporting of all kinds was 'a necessity, but ift must not be taiken tar, enough to interfere watih other sections, of the community.'' . "Are you in favour of the Reform Party's whole .p.:atfcrcn ?'' Mr Herbert: "Yes, but I think the Native land policy should be extended." Mr P. Smith asked the candidate' if he wasi Im favour cf preference to Unionists. ' Mr Herbert replied that" the workers had a' perfect right to protect themselves by means' of unions, and Sf he was* a worker he would join a union. But he was strongly against preventing a man from, obtaining employment becaiuse he was not a unionist. In answer! to another question, Mir Herbert started thai if gamblingwas to be permitted, lie thought tlhe totalisator was the best and cleanest system. He was gQiad the bookmaker had' been abolished. •THANKS... On the motion of Mr E. Flanagan, seconded by Mr Higgins, Mr Herbert was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. A vote of thanks to the chairman closed the meeting.