AUCKLAND EAST ELECTION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 133, 7 June 1910, Page 6

AUCKLAND EAST ELECTION.

QUESTIONS ASKED.

SE3. ITSERS AT THE CHOKAL TTAT.T.. A GGMPItER.HEH'SIVE SPEECH. Mr. A. iL Myers opened his political campaign at the Choral Hall last night. The hall was -well filled, and Mr. Myers received an excellent reception. His address occupied two honrs, and -was punctuated at frequent intervals with the applause of Ms audience. Mr. P. M. Mackay presided, and briefly introduced the speaker./

Mr. Myers commenced Ms address by referring to his qualifications. He had, as most of them knew., taken an active part in municipal matters here; and he had also had considerable experience of commercial and financial affairs on a large scale. He thought lie could safely undertake that, if elected, he would keep closely in touch with his constituents; and hi 3 kno-R-ledge of local requirements should enable Mm to do something for ■Auckland and its people -whenever anything drreetly affecting their interests came before Parliament. In Mr. 31yers' opinion a- member of Parliament ought to be a great deal more than a mere local delegate; and if the opportunity was allowed he would give some effective help in the work of managing this country's public affairs. He did not claim to be a profound theoretical politician; but there was a great deal besides political theory in the art of governing a country successfully. He believed, that Sew Zealand had already the national policy it required—a policy wisely conceived and firmly founded; what was needed most at this stage seemed to be not a new political jTCspc], but careful and businesslike administration on sound commercial, financial, and economic lines; and he hoped le -was not claiming too much for himself in thinking that, if returned to Parliament, he might be capable of doing something- to promote such administration. PATRIOTISM BEFORE PARTY. 'As to his political views, he wanted it, to be understood clearly that lie was not in tie strictest sense a party man; he believed that the time was opportune for putting patriotism before party; but le wanted them to understand equally and clearly that he was a liberal. He called himself so because he believed in the doctrine taught by the2great founders and prophets of liberalism in all countries, that national policies ought to be directed and governments ought to be carried on so as to secure the -welfare, not merely of the privileged classes, but of the people as a whole; and that "the greatest good for the greatest possible number" should be the.first consideration in the making of laws and the-adminis-tration of the public service. It was because the founders of our Liberalism saw the evils that must inevitably arise from so-called K free competition" where GoTErmnerrt refused to. interfere on be'ltalf of the wage-earners that they made their first experiments in industrial legislation; and he contended that.the result-had 5n a very large degree justified their predictions, and ' that their -work had had an extremely beneficial effect ■upon the whole country, on every section of the people; and on all •their material interests. Mr. Myexs then proceeded to refer at some length to £he beneficial measures placed «n the Statute. Book, including- the !<and mid Income.Tax Act, Old Age..Pensions Act. Factories Act, Shops* and Shops lAssistants Act, Workers* Compensation Act, Wages Protection Act, Education Act. and numerous other measures, which lie enumerated. AH these facts might well make, the -wage-earners consider -whether any avowed Labour party-in power could Lave done more for them than the Liberal party had done. When the great measures of our liberal legislation were first proposed they were,fiercely resisted by the Conservatives of those days, who predicted "that ruin "would speedily overtake any country that indulged in such Socialistic experiments; and the echoes of that cry have not yet quite died away. INow, as a business man, he should certainly not be prepared to uphold any system of public policy or administration that, looked at in the ordinary business way, worked out at a commercial lo3S; ivut he did not tiiink any impartial inTestigator could doubt that Liberalism Jhad proved for this country a splendid commercial success. In illustration of this, Mr. Myers (prated figures showing the growth of our population and production. He did not say that Liberalism was the only cause of cur wonderful and our marvellous prosperity; ■but as a commercial man, he said emphatically that all these faefcs and figures meant "good and that liberalIsm, so far from ruining the country, as its enemies had always prophesied, had proved a great commercial and financial ■success.

THE LAKD QUESTION*

■ Coming now to the discussion of the "more pressing political topics erf the hour, ie would make -a beginning -with the land question. Iho central idea, of our land system, for a eousidera'ble period had •been the right of the State to retain Jthe ownership of the soil, so - as to prevent the accumufafcion of large areas an private hands, and to secure for the of the people some share of the enhanced value produced by the natural and development of the country (From 1592 to 1907 the Crown disposed ■of most of lie land to settlers on the lease in perpetuity system; that is, by lease . for 999 years at a fixed rental. •It was generally admitted that in granting leases for so long a term the State made a bad bargain; and there was little objection raised when, in 1907, it! •eras decided to abolish this tenure altogether. The amending Act of that year substituted for the lease in perpetuity a renewable lease of 66 years for ordinary Land, and 33 years for land for settlement lands, with perpetual right -of renewal. Last session, however, an imjrortant bin i was introduced, and although it was dropped at the end j oi the session, Sir Joseph Ward had i a-ecentjy stated that we may expect a pew bill drafted on the same lines this year. The chief feature of the bin was Mat il eoaeeded -to -Crown lessees the aigttt co convert their holdings into free-' aoids, subject to certain conditions. But nor^ 11St remembered that out of the' acres of laßd stai held by the! « Ti new "Rations would riot afiect th, 9,000,000 acres.which had been! a permanent.national endoweducational ana other- public ! |urpos eS3 mc Government °£

that, tie freehold of all' land taken under the Land jfor Settlement; Act should remain, vested in .the 53tate. The original purpose of this Act was to neutralise the evil effects of unrestricted alienation; and the lands taken under it were improved lands, w,hicli needed no special inducement to attract settlers. On the other hand, he thought -that settlers > who were willing to face the. hardships of taking up 'Unimproved land in the back-blocks should be able to look forward to obtaining the freehold of their lands as the reward of their enterprise and industry. The grant of the fee simple was necessary to promote settlement rapidly in the unbroken land ■$! the North Island, and lie though the freehold, carefully limited and restricted, should have a distinct place in our land system. Whatever our system of tenure, the process of settling and opening up the country could not go on rapidly unless there was a considerable amount of land available for selection, and so iar as the North Island was concerned, the chief areas not yet taken up for settlement' and cultivation were still in the hands of the Maoris; and he was strongly of opinion that, in the interests of Maoris as well as Europeans, the process of opening up the native lands should 'be hurried on as rapidly as possible. Mr. Myers further urged the application of the machinery of the Native Land Act of last session. PUBLIC FINANCE. The next subject with which, he -wished to deal was public finance. It was well known that they had a large national debt—one of the heaviest, in proportion to population, in the world—and it was sometimes assumed that this proved that the country was hopelessly embarrassed in a financial sense. But while the inI crease in the gross public debt between ■ 1891 and 1909 was about £14 per head •of European population, during the same period the public and private wealth of the Dominion increased .to the extent of £118 per head; so that our assets had ■been growing beyond all comparison faster than our liabilities. Put down our total national debt to-day at seventy millions. The total capital value of our land was at least two hundred millions, and the total public and private wealth in the Dominion -was at a moderate estimate put down at six hundred millions. From the business point of view these figures seemed to him safe and satisfactory enough. Then, further, they had ■to remember t-hat our debt could not ■fairly ,be regarded as a dead liability, against which there was nothing to be put by way of set-off. The whole of the increase in our debt since IS9I had been so expended that it was actually earning for the country far more thau the interest paid upon it. They need have little apprehension as to how they were going to bear the burden of their liabilities. The fact was that without borrowing money for public works and other development purposes, this country would never have advanced at anything like the rapid rate of progress it had made; and they could fairly regard most of the 'borrowed money as a safe and solid investment that had already produced splendid returns. TAXATION. Wiile speaking of finance, it might be well to say something on the question of taxation. The substitution of the land and income tax for the old inequitable system was one of the earliest efforts of Liberalism, which had consistently striven to transfer the heaviest part of our financial burden from the weaker portion of the community to the shoulders best able to bear it. They must not forget that most of our debt had been incurred, on account of public works, and that the chief financial effect of constructing roads and railways had been to raise the value of land; and it "was only fair that the landowner should make some refcuni for the benefits that he had thus enjoyed. The figures compiled by the Commissioner of Taxes showed that between 1891 and lOCS the increase of pur land -value,'"'with improvements, was over-'-£l31,000,00b<; "while/ including the stock,' the total increase in the value of private la-nded property during these seventeen yeare was £250,000,000. These were really enormous figures, and though there might be differences of opinion, as to the exact proportion of this increase ihat was attributable to the expenditure on public works, they seemed to him quite sufficient to justify the policy of throwing a considerable share of the burden of taxation, directly upon the land. In regard to the • Death Duties Act of last session, so long as they were not made so heavy as to discourage saving or to drive accumulated wealth from the country, and allowed liberal exemption for near relatives, he considered death duties a just and equitable form of taxation. .. _ .; '

Speaking of the State Guaranteed Advance Act, Mr. Myers said that, in his opinion, it would be well if we could set Tip a supervising body on the lines of the Local Government Board at Home, which has the power.to prevent local or municipal bodies from raising loans for schemes which do not appeal to the Board as either necessary or likely to be a financial success. Cheap money was a 'dangerous..luxury when it lead to extravagance, and as the country had to guarantee these advances, the Government would do well to be always on the safe side. A THOROUGH PROTECTIOJaST. As to what was generally known as our fiscal policy, it was hardly necessary for him. to say that he thoroughly approved of the Protectionist system which Tiad been permanently adopted here. He believed that the case for protection for home industries was fully made out, not only in theory, but through tie practical experience of all I the countries that have tried it. By securing the Home market to the local j producer, by means of protective duties,' they could at the same time encourage | local competition to such an extent as i to bring down prices foe the benefit of the local consumer. What the local producer gained was the control of tho Home market—the certainty that he! could get a sale for his product. What the worker gained was employment, and I the use of money that otherwise would! have been sent out of the country to! pay workers abroad. And the.country! as a whole gained by the establishment j of healthy and prosperous industries.. That was the theory of scientific protec- j "feon; and so long as our fiscal policy; followed these lines here, he would not' be afraid to call himself a Protectionist.' Holding this view, he did not feel in-j dined to advocate any remission of ouri protective duties even to encourage British trade'; but, at the same time, he was strongly in favour of maintaining the preference that we had already , given to British goods. He wa& eonj vineed that Imperial. reciprocity, if it could be established, wouid be of an immense advantage to the whole Emsire, .including ourselves; in fact, it seemsd_t»o hun. the only certain way of i binding the Empire permanently to--1 geth'ex.. ' ' ' ■. . 'I - ■• - .-■■' ; ':■■.•■ : J

NORTH V. SOUTH,. "■When I come to discuss our railways," •said Mr. Myers, "X am .compelled, -wher ther I like it or not,'.to raise the North v. South cry, and Ido raise it. (Hear, hear.) Ido mot see itovr any honest and unprejudiced person can .get away from the facts of the case. Up to quite recent years t-he South Inland has 'had Tnore influence in Parliament than the North, and' has thus been able to secure the largest share of the public expenditure on railways. Even after the Main Trunk was opened the South Island had 410 miles more line open than the North, and had received nearly £3,000,000 more ■fch&n the (North to pay for it. The North Island is not only the niore populous ihaK of New Zealand, but it is toy far the more productive, and contributes much the larger share of the general revenue. In spite of the lack of transport facilities in ■the North, the imports and exports of this island—that is, its total external trade —in 190S exceeded those of the South Island by no less than seven and a-half millions sterling;.

"It is worth remarking that in spite of our deficiency in mileage, our railways far surpass those of the South in revenue-producing power. According to the statistics recently quoted uy '.the Minkter for Railways, last year the rail•■ways in the North returned £4 3/3 per cent on the capital "cost, and the South Island lines only £36/5 per cent. The Minister for Railways told them that the interest charged on our public works loans for railways worked out at about 3.8 per cent, and from this it is clear that while the North Island railway system is paying mor-e than its cost, including interest •on capital invested, the South Island fails to make both ends meet." Perhaps one reason for thie difference might -be that the preponderance of influence possessed until recently by the South Island had led' to the prevalence there oF the pernicious practice of building political railways, Mr ■Myers continued. Lot him give one instance—that of the LawrenceKoxburgii ]ine, \v"hich the Ward Ministry discontinued, twelve months ago, on the ground that it would not pay for a very long time, and there was no justification for taking it any further. Andyet, in the face of all this, Parliament last session voted £160.000 more for railway construction in the South Island than in the North, and when we complained, the Minister for Public Works consoled us by telling us we got more for roads last year than they got in tile South. Considering that the South Island was provided with a magnificent system of roads by the Provincial Councils before the Vogel Public Works system was adopted, there was not much in t-hat argument, but it was quite evident that if they wanted to get justice done to the (North, they must insist upon pressing their claims constantly upon the notice of Parliament.

Another question that seemed to need attention in connection with our rail"ways was that of freights. According to a, paper read by Mr. Vaile : before the Auckland Chamber of Commerce in February last, the average freight per ton of goods for 1907 in the North Island was 9/43, and in the South Lsland 5/9}; for 1908 the freight per ton in the North Island was 8/7 J, and in the South 6/; and for 1909 the averages were 9/10} in the North Island, and 5/9* in the South. He had said enough to let them see that m his opinion there was serious need for co-operation between all parts of the North Island to secure justice. It ■happened that the. most important and prospeetively the most valuable lines now proposed or under construction in New Zealand came within the limits of Auckland district.

THE MAIL QUESTION.

Speaking on the subject of our oversea mail sen-ices, Mr. Myers said they were all agreed that New Zealand was very poorly supplied ill this respect just now, so far as Home mails were concerned. Kv-ery-body admits nowadays that Tapid and regular communication by jnaal is absolutely necesiary for any progressive community; and toe mail services with England now -were by no means satisfactory or convenient. It seemed that there was no prospect of reestablishing the San Francisco service for the present; and the best substitute that could be suggested for it was the Vancouver service. What would suit them, best—and here he was speaking not only for Auckland but for New Zealand— would be that Auckland should be the terminal port for the service. This would shorten the time for mail transmission from Home by some days; and possibly the Federal Government would agree that the time lost with the Australian mails couitl be made up by a larger subsidy from New Zealand. At last year's Chambers of Commerce Conference, all the large Chambers, including Wellington, admitted the defects of the Suez service, and advocated the Vancouver line. Now. the Wellington Chamber said that it is quite satisfied with the Suez service. He hoped that the Premier would not be affected by this remarkably sudden change of front, but would go on doing his best to secure for New Zealand what seemed to be the best available means of communication with England now open to this country —a Vancouver mail service with Auckland as terminal port or port of call. (Applause.) WORKMEN'S HOMES. In speaking in support of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, Mr. Myers said that while referring to the position of the workers, he might mention a subject that naturally occurred to his mind here —the question of workmen's houses. ; While he was Mayor of Auckland, lie gave some attention to this question, and he still believed that there was scope for. the initiation of a scheme of workmen's houses which, without entailing any serious expense on the State, would do a great deal towards improving the conditions of life for the industrial classes. Unfortunately the attempts made so far in this country in this direction had been rather too ambitious, so that it had been impossible, to let the houses at a figure within retieh of the ordinary 'worker; but he believed that this defect could be remedied. He asked them to think what could be done in this way if either the State or the municipal authorities wouid buy up a considerable area of suburban land —in the case of Auckland such land as is now lying vacant at Orakei- —and I hold it for some years on the "better- ! nient" principle, devoting the enhanced i value to the beautification of the city, to the provision of workers' homes, and the general improvement of,the eondi- ; tions of life for the industrial classes. • I A voice: Villages ■ without pubs ? (Laughter.) ' Mr. Myers: I will -come .to that later. The speaker had no doubt himself that such an investment as that he had outlined would-pay for itself many times over. ~■ , »: . ' Mr. Myers also referred to the -question of immigration,, urging the nead for enticing agricultural labour to the Dominion. He .also dwelt briefly on the subject of the utilisation of water, power, , and the need for a system of afforestation..;; ~. ■-:....; ,/',.'

AUCKLAND -UNITEBSITY SITE. After speaking on the educational sysItem of this country, IMr. Myers went on. to refere to our University, which, he-said, was a topic of special interest to the people of Auckland' just no-TV. He (referred to the proposal to hand -over Government House grounds to the local University College. In this -matter 'he thought that the Government had been altogether too generous to the college, and too careless of the feedings that the people of Auckland had always associated with Government. House. He thought there was no reason for taking away Government House. As lAu-ckland was -to be in future the chief naval station dn the Pacific, there was more reason than ever for keeping -open a vice-regal residence, where any high Imperial official, such as the Admiral of the Meet, could reside or be entertained. There was ample room for ithe University College and Government House within these extensive and beautiful grounds. No doubt the matter would come up before Parliament next session; and in the meantime ihe hoped that something >would be done by way of conference between representatives of the public bodies and sections of the community chiefly concerned to arrive at some practicable compromise.

Another subject to which a great deal of importance was rightly attached just now was national defence (said Mr. Myers). He thought the Premier did the right thing when he made his famous Dreadnought offer, and that this step was the beginning of a new order of things for New Zealand. (Cries of "Question," and counter cries of "Quite right.") To raise and train a citizen army was naturally the next step in our defence policy, and so New Zealand had the honour of being the first State in the Empire to adopt compulsory military service. As a volunteer of many years' standing he was naturally strongly in favour of the new system; and even if there was never any actual fighting to be done hy our soldiers, he believed that the physical and moral effects of military training and discipline would be in the highest degree beneficial to our young men, and that the money expended on this object would turn out to be a remarkably good investment for the nation. The cost of Lord Kitchener's scheme was likely to be considerable, but he agreed entirely with Mr. James Allen that if it costs half a million a year, we had far better spend that sum than spoil our chances and throw away Lord Kitchener's advice and help for the sake of false economy. THE IvNYVKTT CASE. '"This sceins to be a suitable opportunity for saying something about the Knyvett case," continued Mr. iUyer.s,

"wuich . has exercised public feeling in Auckland to such an extent for some months post. I have given the case some attention, and I shooid iike to wake niy views about it quite clear to you. It is not denied that Air Knyvett, acting under strong provocation, addressed a letter to the Minister of Defence, commenting in strong terms on the conduct of Colonel Robin, the Chief of the Staff, and bringing certain charges of an injurious nature against him. Biit it is contended by Mr. Knyvett and his supporters that, under the army regulations, it is competent for an officer to bring charges against his superior, so long as they are laid in a certain prescribed way; and the officer bringing the charges must then stand or fall by the evidence he can produce in support of them. Mr. Knyvett, so far as I can see, complied most carefully with all tho rules and regulations laid down to meet such cases; but he was arrested and tried for Insubordination'—that is, a Court of Inquiry was set up, which received hjs admission that he wrote the letter, refused to allow him an opportunity of bringing evidence in support of his charges, and then reported him to the Defence Department as "Guilty," the verdict being followed by hi 3 dismissal from the service." (Crie3 of "Shame!") In his opinion, tho punishment did-not fit the crime. It was not for.Mr. Knyvett's sakb only.tliat he thought an inquiry .'-should 'W demanded. The general public had a right to know how the work of the Defence Department was being carried on; and for €ho sake of the Chief of the Staff himself, the reputation of the Department, and the satisfaction of the people of New Zealand, the whole matter ought to bo thoroughly investigated. He was convinced that had the Government refused to grant this reasonable request it would have had a Ferious effect upon the prospects of the compulsory military training scheme in this part of the world. (Loud applause.)

Mr. Myers concluded by saying that it was very probable that if they gave him the opportunity of gaining personal experience of the way in which Parliament did its work, he might feel disposed to criticise its methods and constitution, and even to support radical alterations in some respects. For instance, he could not say that he was at all satisfied with the way in -which the Upper House was at present constituted; and though he held that a revising chamber of some sort was both useful and necessary, he was inclined to think that an elective Legislative Council would be a more efficient legislative body, and it would certainly be more consistent with democratic principles than a nominated chamber. (Applause.) Again, he was certain that the practice into which Government had fallen of late years, of rushing through a large number of complicated and. important measures, in the last few days or hours of the session, was highly injurious to the best interests of the country; and if he got into the House he would do everything in his power to stop this practice of "legislation by exhaustion." When he said that he wanted to enter Parliament as an Independent, he wished to make it quite clear that so long as the Government maintained what he regarded as a Liberal policy, and introduced Liberal measures, he would support it; but otherwise, he held himself free to act as he thought best for the interests of the country and his constituents.

At the conclusion of Mr. Myers , speech, a number of questions -were put' to the candidate. He stated that he would not vote for the abolition of the totalisator, which he regarded as the least objectionable form of gambling, neither did he favour the conditions applying to bookmakers being made more stringent, as he thought the present- system stringent enough.

In answer- ; to a question as to whether he thought the Parliamentary franchise should operate in connection with local bodies' elections, Mr. Myers said, he thought it should. He also thought State employees should enjoy the same political privileges as other workers.

"Are you in favour of no-license?" -was a question put to Mr. Myers, and elicited the emphatic reply, "No, I'm not," In reply to a further question, as to whether he favoured the bare majority, Mr. Myers said; he did not think the bare majority would, be fair to either sjde.

, A voice: And you call yourself a Democrat? ~ ; ■

Air. Myers:. I do,, bui I'm not going to enter Paiiianient under any mieapprehension, and I want my position on these

important questions clearly ■understood. If !my •beliefs are not: satisfactory to you, then you must vote for .some one else..

"Axe you in favour of the abolition of barmaids?" ■■ was a farther , query, to ■which the candidate replied that he vaa, provided that those . now .£ oHowing the occupation were placed on a' register, and the system then : applied. The Trade in Auckland, he added, held this view. ■Mr. Myers 3 in reply to .another <jues■fcion, stated he would vote against the Government on a no-confidence motion if they tried to take away Government House. On the motion-of Mr. G. W. S. Patterson, seconded by Mr. lA. J. Woodley, a 'hearty vote of thanks to, and confidence in, Mr. Myers , -was carried.

A TEMPERANCE CANDIDATE.

Mx iW. BichaTdE-on addressed an open air meeting last night at the corner of Karangahajia. Road in furtherance of his iCandidatuxD for Auckland East seat. An excellent hearing was afforded the speaker, who definitely announced himself as a Prohibitionist and Protectionist. He emphasised the need for fostering local industries, Mr Richardson said that the workers had prospered in! the past owing to the expenditure of .borrowed money on pirblic works, but it was now time that they prepared, fox the period when loan money "would not be available to provide further work. He argued in favour of a revision of the tariff with the object of building up the industries of 2vew Zealand, so as to give work for the large number of men who had been attracted to the Dominion by the expenditure of borrowed money. He pointed out that at the present time no less tltfta £4,500,000 was sent out of the Dominion ior the purchase of manufactured goods, nearly the whole of which could have Ibcen produced in New Zealand. It was quite .possible that such a course might raiee the cost of living at first, totrt as the new industries sprang up competition would, tend to lower prices again of commodities and there would also be plenty of work. He considered the time had arrived when the people should cut off at one blow the drain of money going to foreign countries, which in no way reciprocated. The primary industries of the Dominion had in the past received all the protection required, and were now thriving, but these did not offer employment in nearly so large a ratio as would tthe manufacturing industries. Then, too, foreign countries would laJwaye take surplus mutton, beef, or wool, but that was not the case ■with manufactured articles. Sir Richardson stated he was opposed to the present Government, because he held it, to be hand and glove with the liquor party, that it worked against the interests of Auckland, and Vas not striving for the welfare of the masses.

In answer to a query, Mr Richardson said the North Island had still £5,500,----000 to catch up on the South, 5n the matter of .public expenditure.