THE HON. G LAURENSON.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14350, 9 May 1912, Page 10

THE HON. G LAURENSON.

SPEECH AT STRATFORD

d'HESS' ASSOCIATION TF.r.I'GIUM.) " STRATFORD"-'May 3. Tho Hon. G. Laurenson addressed a crowded audience hero to-night. He said ho regretted to notice that many newspapers in Hawke's Bay had fallen into tho hands of wealthy people. Ho strongly criticised a Wellington print, and prophesied that if all newspapers wero conducted similarly the Pres„ of the Dominion would degenerate to tho same level as the American. The Oppe,-" sition blamed the Government for wasting money and putting up the national debt. In live years the debt had increased by nineteen millions, five millions of which had been spent on advances to settlers and workers. He said that one of the best ways to ensure thc prosperity of any country was to fice that every man owned his own home. The Opposition got on tho platform and condemned expenditure, out sat in the. Houso and never voted against it. Such people were'political humbugs. "Mr Massey said there had been too great an increase.in the annual expenditure, but where had the increaso gone to!-' A quarter of a million extra had been spent on education. Nobody had voted against it, aud he thoAigtit that expenditure would bo still lurther increased. Tho expenditure on old age pensions had increased by £120,000, owing to the number of people coming to thc age at which they wero entitled to the pension. The sum of £700,000 extra was spent on rail- | ways, but the railways produced a rcve- I nuo of £1.150.000. ' The same thing ] occurred in regard to the Post and Telegraph Department. All expenditure had been increased in such directions as no sane person would object to. Tho Government was blamed for being nou-progrcssive, but he detailed the directions in which legislation had neon in a forward direction. As to corruption, no charge had been proved. The Hino charges were well known before tho election, and the persons charged were tried by their constituents. The charges were not brought against the persons concerned, but were made in the hopes that the Government would be besmirched; but this had not '■ been done. Tho Liberal Party had been in power for twenty years. Dur- | ing this time tho number of banki ruptcies had been reduced by half, the i averago life of a man' had increased ' from 31 years to 40, and the numbers j of persons who had to pay income tax [ had increased by 56 per cent. There | was pressing necessity for.more Ministers. Sinco 1873 tho number of Ministers had increased by only one. Either the country had "too many Ministers then or they wero too few now. Since the number of departments had greatly increased, nerhaps it would bo better to have Parliamentary secretaries. Mr Myers held a number of portfolios, including that oi Railways, but it would tako the undivided energies of tho best man in thc Dominion to look after the railways. The Government intended to go in for rapid settlement of thc land, and they desired to put an end to big estates. It was improper that the, town population in Now Zealand should be greater than the country population. That was especially bad in tho case of a growing country. A vote of thanks to Mr Laurenson and confidence in tho Government was carried by acclamation.