REPLY TO THE PRIME MINISTER.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13741, 24 May 1910, Page 9

REPLY TO THE PRIME MINISTER.

HBJAMES ALLEN AT MILTON

(rKESS ASHO ( IATION T-I.E.ItAU.) MILTON, May 23. Mr James Allen, M.P.. addressed a meeting cf hi- constituent t..-mght. t ' hl , hem,; ti.« lir.t «f a m-.-,c, of nddrc „,_b. ...» i» -".ply t» the l»rj_,c Min.-t-r- W.'iton speech. Mr Allen "-en'ed '""* i*n-"* r '* s ■'**' making referent-'----•i-the d"''l". ft" Kin- Edi-ard. Mr K. V Haur.'. Ml'-.. and J' l - Hcck'-n. proccd iv. 1"' *'''- )h "I" *---' • , '"»**<* ; - Niin * . r ' .■*(. h at Winton. He .said he __uW -It-Jl •• "•' «*'-*•' om ' cr v "'•'•■ •"•"•'*'"' ot'lt that . "M. and at other pinc-s whtic I.- ■ - •' •*'-- to speak lie would , .'cr t<. "t! • p:irti:>ii_ of it. Aii'niit roil.i.-i-i thit ;i'ech would find thutS.i" ■ hei: n itli any o*W' l ' " ' ! i! '""' ! ' ~r t '' '""" (; ' ivern " n .. rt. '*■• " ■* h: '" i ' ,0 argument, used worl- ef ib-* I md : —"Di'libi-Tiito n'n.sn'jjiioi I't-at'"". "lii-srepi emulation Mr uvju.c». Ji- • "dvclaimiuon 'igaiu.-.t tlit count *. .-iirping criticism, and ""'■lulling ".." loans to local bodies." '_Insc w„i_-. iviri.' net argument, and •'.ere n *"■ an-' <-'•' to anything that 7iii dit h.»"■*' I ,i, '» sa d by the Opposition. fitUt. fol iiisiance, the question <;1 ~r.ii.sH'pi< *-cr.t .nov. 'I Ik Cp_:ositioii had ' toiL-maily io nted out that the ('o- [ ..rmiiCiiL bad b:Ti.i extravagant. The ' iiio>)i ."' ! «•'■■ truth ef what tiiey had ' .said, tni/U.ii ""ii- Jo.-eph had often <.ull»*d -t "" r < present:;! ion, was in his I </*n .iilim. si ii, that ho could save j C'2.3o,t'''-) a j ear without impairing the efficiency of the Civil Service. Tin- o_>-.•o-itH'ii had rcpics, iiied that there nen* improper charges made on th.' Public *Uori.s rund. maintenance and iep-ir_, and .-ujii like. 'I ho pro; f that I !:«t the*, had t-aid was co:t> ct was ti:at gntdua'h most of tiir.se items had ' i.ri n trail-ton c d back again to tho Cor. oliM.itt.-ii i'l.nd, where they ought alnavs ro hive been. As to mi;-ivpro- * ..eniatioii foi political aims, the Opp >- h'tion dinii'tl tin. t-li-irge altogether: indeed, the but was on the other, leg. " anu In* It!'', in his band a copy of .one cf t.-enn-tl'iee .sheets ol electioneering material r.su -d lor Government candilutes r.t the < 'ectinn before tho last one. 'ihe whole -h-efc was a ti-ssue of mislia'l hud to back down with regard to tli£ giodu it'll lmd tax the Prime Minister had had to back down with regard to the icmarks hi nuido about -Mr l\ir_.sey, and he *-ho.*od no generosity at all to those of the Opposition who got him out of his difficulty nith regard to his Land Bill, by suggesting as they did, that the graduated bind tax was the proper f means o! f.mp.'.iling the large estates to be divid-'d up, with the result, so far as th*-, ppi.sonally weru concerned, that larg( landowneit- who had been j-uppoit'-i-. ot theirs dropped them altogether. OPPOSITION CRITICISM. A.s to carping criticism, tho Opposition had criticised, and would continue to criticise, the administration of the Government, and bad legislation whenever thoy thought it bad. They would criticise the continued attempts to lessen Parliamentary control, and, if necessary, they would continue to criticise the schemes submitted to the people fthieh they believed to be misleading and invohin_ the country in great responsibilities. For .instance, he had, >oar alter year, told the electors that some of the superannuation schemes put on th* Statute Book by the Government wero unsound, and that members on those funds were living in a fools' paradise; and the proof that ho was n_lit was in last year's financial ■*t_temo)it, where it was seen that tbo State had already to come to tho ns.M.stnnco of nearly every scheme on the _. Statute Booh. The Opposition had ; criticised t.o absence of sinking funds f ,__ tor tho /o.ms and had said that the Joans of the Dominion could be raised _ inuih more rdvantageously if sinking funds had been provided; and the proof that that criticism was a sound one was ' - i n *' ,? fact toat the Prime Minister JnH'solr had now come round to that opinion, nnd in his speech, at Winton had declared .himself in favour of sink,mg funds for every one of our loans, - and m tlie fact that he had already ad- , nutted the wisdom of applying sinking funds to the old war loans and some others. It was true that the Opposition had erit'ci.<-c*d—andetronglv criticised, the various Land Bills introduced, out what did the Prime Minister« own colleague say with regard to . the IJill of ISO'i.-—that it was quite im--I'osiilijo to mako it workable. As to ■rhmmg over tho loans to local bodies, the Opposition certainly did object, and . . sti:l objected strongly, to the repeal of the law which allowed the local bodies to got money for absolutely necessary development works from the Crown at ,' ji per cent, for forty-ono years. The Opposition looked upon it as the one f moans of miti-rating the evils now . operated under the votes for roads nnd ■*_ "« in tho Pu,,lic Works Estimates. Ihe OnpoMtion whined—if the Prime J-iiri-rter liked to call "it so—over the new Bill which dealt with assistance to Iw-al bodies last year, with the result !i o*it * lr " ms . Minister had to mixlify awi Bill, and the local bodies-were now ' t'?"'* 1 « the benefit of loans raised at a - fltsooiin*- bein_ considered as at par, and they had to pay the interest on tho loon, as thou_h they had been raised l <i-. pnr ■""■*•■ p<?r cent ' sinking fund for •ioj yean.. He only referred to, these remarks of the Prime Minister beeauso tin* were tho Prime Minister's rovtark?., and went far and wide throughout tho Dominion,.and because, owing f*. Ms position as leader in Parliament, t'w word, be believed. ~ "-0 Prime* Minister had complained tnat the Oppos.tion had never given [>im credit for what he had done, and "ad never helped. That was as unwne a 3 th-? other statements. He had not triac to go over the many occasions on wJnch tho Opposition had assisted tne Pnmo Minister—when they had ' i •* l,omK,? 'ves to help him—but " the ion {.entlemnn had any gene- , r s«ity he was bound to ulmit 'that ' _i n i ga! " t * tr t! ' c 01d A -?° Pensions -*ct the amendments which oncour- ■ jfljetl the thrifty had been urged by - * .'PI.- 5 ' 1 ' 0 !, members.- With regard to land settlemsnt finance, Mr Malcolm Pave" the Prime Minister the lend tliero, and with reference to defence. w ell, surely, the Prime Minister had nccepted a lead from some of the "Jpnosition. -NATIONAL DEFENCE; Ho would refer at some length that evening to this eiie matter of defence, Jit cause he realised with great .••atisf action tlw cli:-ng.. that had .coin?.- over the Prime Minister's mind, nnd be wished to -ay that in the i-ction he ' took last year, and in the action lie proposed to tako in the coming year, though he differed in details, yet on general principles he had suppoited the {'on. gentleman, and would support him. and had already stated that he was prepared to go "on the platform and do so. He was entirely in accord • - with the proposals that the age of national servica should be raised from -I to *."j years. No doubt bis audience was aware of the Act »f Inst year which so completely filtered the system of defence, impasing as it did national service up to the as.-.*- of 21 yturs, beginning with the junior c-.idct at 1-, ~'stli the senior tadot at 14, with the general training section from 1? to 21, and a Territorial force. As far as details were concerned, be could not sec how si Territorial force on volunteer principles, where their members were "ot sufficient :;nd were supplemented by mpn bein_: balloted in from the general training section, was going to work satisfactorily. The proposal' to raise tho age to 25 years would largely get nd of the difficulty. There were other details he bad mentioned in the House, more with the hope of having them considered than with any idea of

objecting to any Bill—su-.-ii. for msinnee, ;ts uuiiorinity :n cstobli-hracnt | iirtwreii ouihches and the Mother Country. The Prime Minister ! | bad tun-soli to this ! uniformity when lie ' was at j I Home, and it was to be hoped it j j would be maintained. The '"Gazette,"; | no-.vrvor. n.ado tin- peace establishment.] jof .•*. New Zealand infantiy company HI, j j where;..-; the war cstribiishinent of it j I Home infantry company was 120. i •**•:• far it iir.d not been made : i (le.ir what the war cstoblislij i:>ent oi a New Zealand iidantry , ! company ought to bo, but it ought at ■ : any rate to be I'2o, and a_ far a.s lie i , knew tlienj. the peace ::nd war forces I Jio ibirt country were identical. If so it ' , ;-.pp.--:i;v.i that Nov. Zealand was j coming into unilormity with the Mother j ; Country with her lnf.ir-try companies at i .61. Another difficulty arose with re- I ; li.ird to the .selection of'only 20.000 men j ' tor tli.- Tt-ri'ito'.-iuls under the proposed j . new .-:i'l;->i'.i'-. Becwron the a,:<■.-. of IB j and 2-"> there were .some U-V'tK) »"-'" in ' , tin* Ij;j:i.iiii.iu. and to select: 20.000 out I ;■)) lb'.- t>*>.o()o wu.s not an easy problem. \ As a matter of fact th--* Home antliori- j : tii's Keoniiucirlr-d 30,000 for New Zea- I : I.uml. Hit; ov, ii opinion wa-.s tiiat the j ; way to meet the difficulty was to make j 'the exemptions fairly extensive, und | • then lo train the re.-i. This would act over tin? great difficulty, of any ■ seieeliiju by ballot or otherwise, which he did not believe for a moment would \ lie. satisfactory. From what bad been I state;.'. Lord Kitchener*, .■"■-.■heme was to Ibe partially adopted. The Dominion I |-.i;:s to be divided into smaller ] districts than Lord Kitchener r.ug- ' g.-.ted. whir ii w.is probably enough; and ten en dots wore tr> be sent to the .Military College in .Australia for traini:r_. On" }*!',• it difficulty would be the oiiircring of the twenty-eight districts, and as be im'.! already said in the Press, lie did not think they could find in New Zealand 'sufficient officer.; to properly take up these position;-. If wo con I'd not. he would not hesitate to yet then from oiit-ide until v,e could trnin our own. The co*t of the .scheme was set down at between -.•'".O.tK'.C) :<nd £400,000. which was. _ay. £1-50.0.00 above the present cost, and to;- this -,-.. fc.-t'iinly sh-i'l.l get i.metiiing like efficiency, which we did not ll'lV* n.i'.'. . . There v ::s unntber difficulty that had to be niPt, and ho joined hands wiih the Prim. Minister to persuade his cr.ui'trymen to nuct it—the with ivg:-rd to employment. There were l>>:itid to be some hardships and .•onie in -cri'i'ioneo with industry, but th.' protection that would be afforded to industry by an efficient force was by way cf insurance, and everybody ou_ht to join hands and try to mife't it. As a matter cf fact, the experi*eure of other countries was that the interference with industry was not as gteat as anticipated. In Switzerland, for instance, where there was a highly organised, industry employing many thousands of workers in every branch of technical industry, and standing as it did ir. the forefront of modern nalicris both in the output per head and in the-fluidity of its manufactures, they had found the universal military trainin-; did not involve any appreciable in-torfoi->nce with employment, and was ie.-*.',rdcd by employers and employed alike as not only tho just and natural -y.-tem for the defence of the country, but as a valuable contribution to "liy.sical and industrial education. That way n.n extract from a■ .rvreface written by Lord Roberts to a book entitled "A Territorial Army in Being." In the same book there were further references to the nnestion of instance : "During the main period of.training in Switzerland —a peVio-_"""__thrre or four months— employer.'' would bo deprived of not more than 2.0 p;-r cent, of the nation's 'available labour." It was further stated: : 'lt forms an integral part of the national education, and conduces to the morel and physical welfare of .the .Swiss people. It brings together all classes of the community in friendI.v comrad?ship and co-operation in the common cause, and appears to entail but _ili_r.it interference with the industrial life of. the people." The "'Speaker said he mode these' extracts, and offered no.comment on them, because he thought they answered the question with regard to employment. Our defence depended, no doubt, in" the first instance, upon supremacy at sea, then upon efficient home defence, and thirdly upon the power of mutual help. These were the principles laid down by the Home authorities, and they could not be controverted. We were preparing by our legislation, he hoped, for on efficient home defence, and possibly for mutual hel,r. in time of need

NAVAL DEFENCE

Mr Allen went on to refer to the question of sea supremacy and tho Naval Defence Act, 1909. His audience was aware that the Dominion had made provision to pay tho cost of an Indomitable, approximately £2,000,000, with annual charges of £150,000 and £100,000 to help to man it. When he spoke at Milton some time ago with regard to the Dreadnought offer he said he was entirely in accord with assisting the Mother Country with a Dreadnought or two or more if the need were shown for such, and he assumed that Sir Josipb Word had in his possesrion information which led him to make the proposal, which information was not in the possession of the people. He regretted to say that, in his opinion, the country had been somewhat misled over this matter. At an informal meeting of members of the House befors .Sir Joseph Ward went Home, the question was discussed, and it was .-dearly established that the Prime Minister had used influences with the Pr.*ss; for what reason he (the speaker) know not, but which certainly had very gieat effect in forming public opinion. A telegram was sent on March 22nd last year, under "strictly confidential" conditions, to tho editors of papers, impressing upon thfm that the situation was much graver than was generally supposed or had been published. With regard to that telegram, tho speaker wns bound to say it was treating members of the House in an unfair way. It led newspaper editors to believe that the: occasion was much more serious than appeared from the evidence that had como out. Sir Joseph Ward had not? mo tittle of evidence in addition to what Jnd already been ptiblisdicd to. justify him in telegraphing as he did. That ho also influenced Cabinet in an improper way was evidenced by the statement of Air A. W. Hogg,* after he left the Ministry, when he f.ade use of such words as: ''The matter was placed before him as one of great uiger.cy. a.'.ul an occasion of terrible crisis, and that thoy must come to •the rescue of the Old Country." As lie (Mr Allen) had .said, he never hesitated, nnd never would hesitate, to come to the res.ue of the Old Country when the .Old Country needed it, but be did think, in view of after events, that the --xwintry was to a large extent misled, and that our subsequent notions had not been in the best interests of New Zealand nnd its national life. Regarding the decision of the Home authorities to place New Zealand's Indomitable on the China station, and to lend, so to fjjx'ak, some of the ■.•misers, destroyers, and submarines, he =aid that, as a self-respecting New Zoalaudei he could not view with any satisI act ion tho proposal to have upon the New Zealand coast these vessels paid for by British money and manned by llritish men. It would have been very much bettor for n.s to have put our money into theso vessels. They were intended for tho defence of our"shores and our trade routes, and thus we should have had some national pride in tbeui. and a connection with them, and it would have been preferable to staking everything on a China Sea Indomitable.

INCREASES OF EXPENDITURE. The increase of expenditure upon defence the Prime Minister had used as a means for extracting further taxation from the people. So far as he (Mr

Allen) could gather the. increased cost on account of tho defence proposals would b& something like £300.000 to 1"320.000, but the increased taxation asked for in the Budget w.is £448.000, and it would be readily realised, that the defence proposaLs were not the only .re-son for tbe proposed increase of taxation. Indeed, it would be found that the ■jiiporaiiiination .cherries were mak- ; ing themselves felt upon tho people, a.s be (Mr Allen) had s.tid tliey would. .Some of tbe increases were: Raiiways to the* extent of £20,000 :'. year, police to the extent cf X'-jOGO a year, public ;-ervice to the extent of £20.000. and teachers to the extent of £7000. They knew in regard to the latter that it ought to be £17,0C0. What he had to say was this: If there hnd been reasonable tare taken with re-jard to the expenditure, and some can--, shown in ro.]iect to remissions of taxation, there would have been no occasion for further taxation at all. The surpluses during pa.st years had, generally spoa'--iir_, b'-eu fairly largo, and taxation lv.d been used for the purpose of assisting the Public Worl*_ Fund. 11. would not suy that was wrong, but it was heroic, and certainly the extra amount raised by taxation had led to the extravagance _oin_; on. Did they want proof of the extravagance!- There was no further argument needed than the admission of the Prime Minister that he could save £2.0,000 a year, and more than that, without impairing tho efficiency of tho Civil Service. It was a pretty heavy burden to impose upon the people in one session, when new taxation to the extent of !b per head was placed upon them, because, for-ono reason, the present Prime Minister and Treasurer had, durin_ his four years of office, increased expenditure over his iiicrensed revenue to tho extent of i'ilo.OtXl. That sort of thing could not go on without increasing taxation. It was all very well for the Prime Minister to try and explain, as be did try, the increased taxation for ten years, as represented by Mr Massey, at £1 7s Id. As a matter of fact, Mr "Massey understated it. If he had included the increase in local taxation in ten years, it would have been £1 los 7tl, and now another 10s was to _o in. Sir Joseph Ward's explanation that this was due to tbe increase in values of land did not r_et over the difficulty as he (Mr Allen) understood it, at any rate. Nor was Sir Joseph Ward's statement with regard to remission-* being £ 100,000 the whole, truth. There had been mci eases which'he him-.-elf bad admitted of £107,000, and he (the speaker) ventured to say there were a .jreat deal more, for under the preferential tariff alono in 1909 there was a revenue collected of £90.000, and there had been increases of the graduated land tax, some of which tho Opposition did not object to, though th?y certainly objected to that portion of it which imposed 2") ,v?v cent, extra on hnd not held for businc--> premises, thus making a distinction between town and country, which they thought unfair. With regard to the indirect taxation through the Customs. n*s -compared with other taxation, it had fallen durim. the last ten years by 9.3 per cent., whereas the direct taxation had risen by that amount. If he had time that- ni.ht be could go over the various Acts dealing with the Customi*- and show that every time members of tho Opposition'party had done their utmost to reduce the taxation upon food, and that more credit was due to them than to the Government. A vote of thanks was accorded Mr Allen for his address, and tho meeting exxircssed its continued confidence in him as memlwr for Bruce