POLITICAL ADDRESS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14094, 13 July 1911, Page 8

POLITICAL ADDRESS.

THE HON R. McKENZIE AT WAKEFIELD.

(abbisged pbess association report.) NELSON, July 12. The Hon R. McKenzie, Minister of Public Works, delivered an address at Wakefield to-night in reply to recent speeches by Mr Massey and other members of the Opposition. Ho claimed that tho Liberal Party had made remissions of Customs and taxation amounting to •£s,ai;*_,o4B in the last twenty years. In 1891 the imports were £6,503,849, or about £10 6s 6d per head; in 1910 they were £17,051,683, or about £16 9s 4d per head v so that while the customs tariff had increased only 10s 3d per head, tho imports had increased £6 2s lOd per head. In the samo period tho exports showed an increase of £6 4s 7d per head so that tho apparent purchasing nower of tho people had increased enormously. He was happy to say that the mining industry was making steady, satisfactory progress and the future was very encouraging indeed. He had earnestty endeavoured to foster this industry by assisting tho miners in several directions. Dealing with the Public Works policy, Mr McKenzie said his sympathy was with the lionhearted men who started to carve homes for themselves and their families in tho heart of the forests, and who had to live in tents and wharcs whilo the pack track was coming. They were the men the Liberal Party had been straining every nerve to assist for twenty years, and tho most rabid Tory could not deny that the strenuous efforts of the Liberal Government to settle people on tho land had been crowned with unqualified success. A great deal had been achieved, but a great deal re- ] mained to be accomplished. During i the twenty years of tho Liberal regiuiie £5,908,209 had boon spent on the construction of roads and tracks, nnd £15,246,930 had been spent on the construction and improvement oi 2-ivO miles of railways. . The administration of the Public Works Department required continual cure and close attention. Although tho system in vogue had been continued for many years, and was admitted by those who understood it to bo efficient and satisfactory, and had 1-oon muintai-iic-d by every Government, the Loader of the Opposition in Nelson and elsewhoro had attempted to adversely criticise the administration of the Department, and in support of his contention had cited two items of expenditure, and indulged freely in his usual practice of misrepresentation. Tho first item he had referred to as illustrating maladministration, was the Wellington-HuCc Railway duplication, and road construction works. Mr Massey had indulged in a groat deal of loud-voiced declamation in his efforts to denounce what he invariably described as tho despotic methods of tho Public Works Department, and what in his somewhat polished diction he generally called its "Rotten system." Mr McKenzie said he could imagine that if any of t' oso present had listened to the Leader of the Opposition denouncing what ho called the wasteful extravagance of tho department, they would naturally conclude that no must have some foundation for his denunciation. As a matter of fact there was not a vesting of truth in the whole abusive tirade. The Public Works' Department had never spent a single copper on tho Wellington-Hutt road construction and railway duplica- j tion—the whole work was carried out I by the Railway Department, and paid for by that department and the local*! bodies concerned. Doubtless all who i remembered the old quagmire of road and the crooked railway between Wei-1 lington and the Hutt, would admit that they had made a very £ood job of it. j That was a complete exposure of ono of Mr Massey's misrepresentations. The other item of wasteful expenditure with which the Leader of the Opposition had endeavoured to electrify his audiences was a matter of £150 in his own electorate. Mr Massey had told his audiences in Nelson and Kaiapoi that applications for grants for roads by private individuals should not receive any consideration. He considered that all applications for grants should go through the member or tho local body—a fairly good theory, but not, he was afraid, if Mr Massey's dictum were followed, so perfect- in practice. Many of the best and most deserving settlers would never get a read or a track to their holdings, more especially if they lived in Mr Massey's district and happened to havo Liberal leanings. In regard to the item of £150 in tho Franklin electorate, which the Leader of the Opposition often -paraded as, an illustration of the maladministration of tho Department, he read Mr Massey's remarks as contained in. the report in tho Christchurch "Press" of his Kaiapoi meeting, in which he said a local body in his district were notified that £150 had been placed on tho Estimates for a certain work. The local body knew nothing about the matter, and the. member fcr the district was also ignorant of the reason for the grant. Eventually, said Mr Massey, it transpired that the Premier h*ad promised the money to an elector for a road in his locality. Parliament having nothing to do with it. The member had written to the Department, but no explanation was forthcoming. This was only one instanca,-Mr Massey was repcrted to havo added, but he was quite suro there were dozens of such instances in connection with tho Public Works Department. In reply to this, thc Minister declared that tho Leader of tl>3 Opposition had never written a word to the department about tho matter. Having read the paragraph in his speech and waited a reasonable time exnoctingj to hear from Mr Massey, ho (Mr McKenzie), wrote to him .asking for an explanation of what ha wns referring to, and his somewhat lame reply was now on record on the department's files. The explanation of the grant of £150 was that tho gentleman who had j opposed Mr Massey at the last election and would be sure to defeat him nt tho next election, introduced a deputation to thc Primo Minister asking for a small grant of £TSO for an urgently : I required road. The matter was re- ! ported on by tho Local Government olfi- ; cer and the amount put on the Esti- ; i mates. This was tho second eompleto exposure of Mr Mas.ey's unreliable criti- ! eism and his misrepresentation of the Public W_rks Department. Mr Massey himself had often introduced deputations to him on similar missions and if the requirements were urgent, be had attended to them. Tho Minister went on to say ihat he now proposed to indicate approximated what he considered would" bo required ,to complete the Main Trunk tvstem jof both islands. Tho figures were. - £ ; North Auckland (Eaiwaka to Kai-

Ic-ahc), 70 rcile3 .. ~ 700 000 East Coast Main Trunk— Waihi-Tauraa*,- 45 miica .. 330,C00 Taurcnsa-Opotiki, £0 miles .. 600,000 Opjtiki-Gieborno, GO miles .. 000 00!) GiEborne-Napier, 116 nnlca .. I,_oo',oM Slrntfo-d-Ongaruo (Pchckura-On- _ 5u ar T e l* 16-Hl 6 -H? ileß -_ •• •• 000 Ecuth Island Mam Trunk (WanlDomett). 100 miles .. .. 1,000,000 Midland— Gienlupc - Tadmor - Innn~ahua, 60 miles -• .. 750,000 Cronadun-Inanpahtia, 10 miles .. 30 030 Otira-Bealey, 9 miles .. " -150,000 Cass-B-eaiey, 15 miles .. .. 103,000 ■Westport-Inangabna, 20 miles ~ £60,C00 Catlins-Waimahaka (Honipap_-"Wai-mahaka), 50 miles .. ... 500.000 Total .. .. 7.C00C00 Branch railways, say. another .. 1,400,000 Other proposed expenditure was: — P-nolic buildings and schools .. 3.000,000 Roads .. .. .. 4,000,000 Additions to opeD lines .. .. 3,0C0,000 E.-dro-electric power and irrigation 2.000 000 Telegraph extension and harbours 1,000.000

Thc works he had enumerated would be required, and in fact mnny of them were now urgently required to develop the resources of the country partially, if not to their full capacity. If the

necessity, for -Jies**. »u_me» for meet and development wad admitted '* ; '?M the all important question for deciaioil .|3 was how best to provide the nuces_uy*'*y| ways and means. Th-cro were only •&-«'< *f£§ solutions—by borrowing or by revenue; but probably the be_t? ;§§ soundest, and safest way was by combination of both, that was from surplus revenue and partly '-'by' 1 ? loan. So long as the money was in- 'T?j vested in reproductive works thai "'■ would pay their way, he was strongly'*s of opinion that these works shoubj j>_ 4 f undertaken and completed within a re*. 4 sonable period. Ho would therefore & provide one-third of tho cost, or say jk £500.000 a yoar, out of surplus reven*_| A and the profits made from these under, 6? takings themselves, and the bal__j(,~4 ! out of loans, at the rate of a million- : iA 1 year. This amount of oxpenditurfli £ would provide a fairly complete system '\ of public buildings, roads, and »•_;.,% ways, thoroughly well oouipned. t-nwth-er *5 with a eompleto telephonio and graphic system, and a large proporttgJß'i* of hydro-electric power. >;. »l| Mr McKenzie then dealt at some ** { length with tho financial position of tho *fi Dominion, and the Gover"'> , crct-'« jtojsi/$ rowing policy, replying to the critieian»= r t;f of Mr Massey and --.-H-er 0-«v«if oa sneakers, his remarks being on the samt'* lines as Sir James Carroll's speeches ia 'V; the South. . ■ :"*&{ A vote of thanks and confidence i_»"!f Mr McKenzie was carried. It "•»»»« a successful meeting, and tho Minj_t»^; had a cordial reception. v ■*>-. ————, .'- : .* c -fjA