The Representation of Wallace.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 29, 14 November 1905, Page 3

The Representation of Wallace.

JL ♦ MR D. MACPHERSON'S CANDIDATURE. Mr Dugald Macpherson, who is contesting the Wallace seat. with Mr J. C. Thomson, after completing a tour of the Waiau district, commenced a tour of the Eastern portion of the electorate, with an address at Mossburn, on the 30th ult. During the week, he held meetings at Homesdale, Caroline, Dipton, Riverside, Fernhills, Limehills and Otapiri; In each instance he was well reoeived, and at several places, including Dipton, was accorded a unanimous vote of confidence, as being a fit and proper person to represent the Wallace electorate. ADDRESS AT QTJTH HI_LEND. Mr Macpherson addressed a representative audience at the South Hillend hall on Mon- , day night6thinßt. Mr J. Looneypresided, and introduced the speaker. « In the course of his remarks Mr Macpherson said it was the first time he had met the people of South Hillend m a public way, but had met many m a private way, and felt at home when he saw so many old faces. He was a Government candidate, and had supported the Government for many years. He supported them because he believed m their administration, and as long as they placed liberal measures ori the Statute Book he would support them. He was a party man, and did not think the Elective Executive workable. It might come m time, but only when the people became less selfish. With an Elective Executive the great departments could never be properly carried out. He was not an orator, but a plain man like themselves. He had been brought up on a farm, and knew their wants. Such a large electorate as Wallace Bhould be represented by a practical man. He was also an employer, and had a number of bands. He felt tbe responsibility of his position, and only after careful consideration had decided to contest this election. He was a Liberal as far as education and reforms went. The State should give every child a good education, and if some were left behind m the race of life, it was not their fault. Any measures which were not for the benefit of a particular class he would support. He would place Borne of his views before them, and leave it to them to form their own judgments. If any measure came before the Honse, and he did not think it would be for the benefit of the people at large, he would yote against it but if it was made a vote of no confidence be would sink his own individuality for the time and vote for it- The Government was the more important, and even if he did not always agree with them he felt it was the best for the country. Everything was increasing and the country was progressing at a very great rate. If returned, he thought he could do a great deal for the district and also for the good of the colony, by taking an Intelligent view of all matters that came before the House. He always' believed m good wages, and countries paying good wages alwayß did well ; the people were happier and contented. A fair wage for everybody was a good thing for all concerned. He bad always paid the highest wages and got good men. If he had paid lower wages he would not have had the same success. He favoured the Arbitration Court, and always would. .There were details that might have been better, but strikes had been prevented. There was nothing wrong about strikes— a man refused to sell his labour just as a farmer refused to sell his grain. He was m favour of tbe rise m railway servants' wages. A surfaceman was entitled to his rise, as he had to pay rent, being unable to buy a house owing to the shifting nature of his work. He favoured eight hours a day for railway men the same as other trades. With regard to prison reform, more should be done m conneotion with our young prisoners, many of them oame out hardened criminals and ultimately found their way back to gaol again. They should be classified, and an effort made to raise them up. Enough had not been done for the mining industry of the colony. Tbe country was full of minerals ; 57 millions of gold had" gone but of the country. There was plenty of gold m Wallace, and more should be done m the direction of prospecting. More use should be made of the diamond drill ; the other drills had proved failures. The Eaitangata Coal Company had one, and there were others, which could not be got for love or money, as the fear of finding another seam of coal kept

them from lending it. In Victoria these drills were a great success. More should be done m the direction of consolidating the Acts, and simplifying them. The lawyers were against this, of course, of whom there were too many. The House all knew what good measures had been done by the Government — tbe Lands for Settlement, Advances to Settlers, tbe Penny Post, Old Age Pensions, etc. New Zealand wrote 70 per head of letters per annum, which Bpoke volumes for the intelligence of the people of New Zealand. The workmen's homes was a good step, and a great benefit to the colony. If the Government borrowed the money at 4 per cent., and laid it out for the good of the people, a groat benefit would accrue. The maternity homes were a step m the right dire-tion, and he supported consumptive homes and all that conduced to the general health. He did not fall m with the views of Mr Massey and thOpposition They should go m for a policy and drop all abuse. Though a party man, he would like to see t.ings conducted m a fair and square manner — not like the last session, which was degrading. He objected to the Oppositio/i style of criticism, and would not discuss the voucher and other business, as they all knew enough about it. Mr Seddon had been practically accused of falsehood. The civil servants concerned had their remedy if they wanted to lay a complaint, and that was to report the matter to their snperior officer, not to members of Parliament* At Balclutha, Mr Massey had made a statement which did not reflect any credit on bim or his party. It ran thus :— " They had, he said, feasted upon the Bweets of prosperity, and he desired that they should taste of the bitters of adversity that he believed to be impending, and to suffer the consequences of a scatter-daßh policy that they had inaugurated at some period." Any man uttering this wish was not capable of being Premier of New Zealand. The land laws compared very favourably with any similar laws m the world. The leasehold system, whioh he favoured, had assisted many a poor man to get a little property together. Only recently a steamer left New Zealand with 100,000 lbs of batter, nearly all from leasehold farms. This opened up a large question, and we would yet be able to send away greater quantities of other prodace. He also favoured granting to leaseholders the right to purohase their farms, and when the time came when there was no more land m New Zealand the freehold oould be abolished. Mr Rolleston and Mr Ballance had seen what the leasehold would do for this country, and Mr McKenzie had carried their plans out. He (the speaker) did not favour the 999 years' lease; 99 years' was long enough. The money gained from the sale of freeholds should go into the Lands for Settlement funds, not into oounty funds for roads, etc., for then it would all vanish The system of " loading " for roads very often fell unjustly on people who oould not afford it. There were imperfections m this as m every government, but it mus be given oredit for its policy. The Lands for Settlement policy had helped the export trade of the colony, and herein the prosperity of the colony could be attributed to the Government. Representation on Assessment Courts was necessary for farmers, and they should take advantage of the Arbitration clauses. The Opposition would make the land question the grounds for a vote of no confidence, as they know there were many freeholders on the Government side. Still the latter were returned to support the Government, and a question like this should never be made a party question of. The leasehold would undoubtedly come back m after years. Regarding education, it was one thing we were getting the worth of our money for. There might be a necessity for technical education, but that should oome m after the ordinary instruction has been imparted. Much of the trouble of the present day was that children went to school too young and left too young. He thoroughly believed m free, secular and compulsory education. He was I strongly opposed to the Bible m schools, as it was not right to introduce religious teaching into such a mixed community as now j existed. The referendum on tbe subject he also opposed, aB the qnestion was a personal matter with all. If the Bible m schools should ever be introduced, then would come a State. Church, and he would even vote against the Government on this question. The tendency to centralisation he objected to — as education boards, sohool committees etc. were more for the benefit of education. The New Zealand system of education was a national one, calculated to imbue the children with a true spirit 'of patriotism. Many people thought the colony was going into debt, but just as many millions as we had gone into debt so had our population increased. In 1895 we were paying £2 10s 3d per heai on the population ; m 1904 we were paying £2 7s 6d. These figures were taken from the official records of the colony, and completely answered the assertion that we were going into debt. This went to prove that this country's affairs were well managed. A great deal of this state of affairs was due to Sir J, G. Ward. The estimated private wealth m 1893 was £232, per head of the population and m 1903 £308, about 20 per cent higher than the other colonies. The Post Office savings bank m 1895 had £3,895,543 m deposits, and m 1903 they- amounted to £7,388,682. This steady increase oould be found m all other institutions m the colony and could be found m no other colony. The Publio Trust, the Government Life Insurance, and the railways all showed the same vitality. In face of this, the cry of some people for a change was not justified. Though .the credit for initiating the Advances to Settlers belonged to another person. Sir T. G. Ward had made ft the success it was. Mr Duthie had asserted that the Advances to settlers and the cheap postage would yet land the colony m trouble," but this was unjustified. With regard to the liquor question it had by reoent legislation been to a large extent removed from practical politics. He did not wish to dictate to tbem, they could all vote for it the same as himself. He believed m the Local Option, and would always support it. A man's opinion on license or no-license did not matter so much | m this election, as strong supporters of both questions could vote for the same candidate. At a later stage Mr Maopherson said that if returned, he would live m Southland—probably m Riverton. A true representative must be amongst the people and know their requirements. He (the speaker) left it to I those present to weigh what he had said and act on their own judgments: He wanted to j win this election m a fair and square manner, and would rather lose fifty elections than do anything dishonourable. If defeated he would still extend the right hand of fellowship to his opponent. He was quite satisfied that the present Government would go back. He thanked them for the quiet hearing accorded him, and expressed himself quite willing to answer questions. In answer to queations, Mr Macpherson said he thought a shilling an hour was a fair, wage for a man m harvest time, and believed that men of equal ability doing the same olass of work should get equal pay. He always believed m giving harvesters good wages at all times. A vote of thanks and confidence m Mr Macpherson, as a fit and proper person to represent Wallace m Parliament, was unanimously carried. Mr Macpherson suitably replied, and a vote of thanks to the ohairman brought the meet ng to a close. .. -TililV