POLITICAL.

Clutha Leader, Volume XL, Issue 73, 20 March 1914, Page 2

POLITICAL.

ADDRESS BY ME a. W. RUSSELL. GOVERNMENT CRITICISED. Mr G. W. Russell, M.l\ for Avon, delivered an addross of over two hours' duration, in the interests of the Balclutha branch of the Liberal League, in the Oddfellows' Hall on Tuesday evening. There were about 300 people present.

Mr D. Stewart, Mayor, who acted as chairman, in introducing the speaker, said that this was the first time that Mr Russell had visited Balclutha. He had previously met Mr Russell in Wellington in connection with the Local -Bodies Bill, when delegates from local bodies held a conference to discuss the proposals of that Bill. Mr Russell, as Minister of Internal Affairs at that time, presided, and although all the delegates were hostile to the Bill, won high appreciation from all by his tact at the conference. He had now much pleasure in asking Mr Russell to address the Balclutha electors. He knew nothing about his ability as a speaker, but the audience could judge after they had heard him. Mr Russell, on rising, received an and thanked the meeting for the cordial manner in which it had received him. Prior to the last election he had received an indication from some Balclutha gentlemen that they would like to hear him give an address in Balclutha, but he was unable to come here then. He would now, however, place before then an account of the political affairs of this country; and he was going to speak on politics from quite a national point ef view.

HISTORICAL. Mr Russell went on to relate the history of the Liberal Party, which lor 21 years had governed tho country. During that term, he said, a golden era of progress and prosperity had continued throughout the country. In 1890 when tlic Liberal Party had swept the Conservative Party out af eK.stenlv what was the position? The <ountry was in the doldrums and there was utter stagnation throughout the length and breadtli of the land. W.th the advent <.f the Liberal Party.. however, money became cheaper, lanci settlement was promoted, the factories increased by leaps and bounds and the exports of the country trebled.—(Applause.) In 1912 a change came over the scene. There was now a Government drawn from the reactionary forces of the. country which was not the Government, by the will of the people. At the election of 1911 182,000 votes were cast for Mr Mas,sey, 200,000 for the Liberal Party and 97,000 for the. Labor and Independent candidates.' And yet the Reform Party was in power. Mr Henlman in his speech at Wyndham said he woiilcj, not detail the dramatic incidents that led to the defeat of the Liberal Party. Mr Herdman was w.se in talcing that attitude—the incidents that led to tho defeat of the party would not bear examination. THE REFORM PARTY.

Sir Joseph Ward had retired an unbeaten man. The Mackenzie Government was beaten by eight votes, five of these being those of men who were returned by the Liberal Party who would election receive the measure of apnreciation they deserved from their constituents. So there was a new Government iu power, and this was supposed to te a Government of purity, but before lie had done with them lie was going to strip the angelic clothing off them. (Laughter and applause.) They had been told time after time that tho Government now in power was not the old Tory Party. It was said that it was the Reform Party, but he would ask, his audience to observe the coinposition of the Ministry—Messrs Massey, Allen, Eraser, Merries, Rhodes, Bell and Herdman, every one of whom were members of the old Tory Party which existed under Sir AVm.' Russell and Mr Rolleston, or in later years under Mr Massey. There was not among these gentlemen one member who represented what ho would call the new blood of the .Reform Party. Thero were two others, one Mr Fishe;, a gentleman who actually toured New Zealand some seven or eight years ago for the purpose of founding a'new Liberal Party, holding that Mr Seddon was not going fast enough to satisfy tho wishes of the people. Tho other was Dr Pomare, who was captured by this political octopus called tho Reform Party. There was no small farmer element in the present Government, which was not in touch with the masses of the people and with whom it had no sympathy. Tiie members thereof were drawn from a certain class of the community. Not one member of tho present Cabinet had ever held a seat on an Education Board in this country. Bo would not attempt to show that these gentlemen had opposed every cardinal item of the Liberal policy which its now tried to administer. He would say, however, that the country had now under the name of a Reform Government a Tory Government that was administering the affairs of New Zealand in the interests of the class that was behind it and had put the party where it was. Its career had been one of broken pledges, unfulfilled promises and mismanagement. (Applause.) THE FIRST STONEWALL.

Mr Russell then proceeded to give the histories of the stonewalls .the first of which was in «onnection with the railway estimates. As Leader ol ! the Opposition then he had pointed out that it would be a great mistake to pass the railway estimates before the House saw a statement of the previous year's working. Later 011 the Opposition refused to pass the estimates till the reports from the Mental, Public Health, Tourist and Cook Islands Departments had been presented to the House. SECOND STONEWALL. .

This was in connection with a Bill which included a proposal that the freehold should be given in Hauraki where laud was held under mining conditions. Mr Massey first said that the freehold was to be given exclusive of minerals, but later accepted a clause in the Bill that all rents, fees and royalties should be payable to the owners of the land. 'Mr T. W. Rhodes, the man whom the Thames Liberals voted into Parliament and who turned over to the Reform Government, and his son held from 1000 to 2000 acres of this very land which it was proposed to give the freehold to under these sonditions. The worst of it ■was that this Bill, passed by the Massey Government, gave this right only to Hauraki, while there' were 12,000 acres in Nelson and 9000 in Westland under no special legislation. Hauraki was favoured because Mr Massey wished to give the man who changed over and sutftfdrtdd him a privilege wM<jh the resf of the peoplg in Nei? Zealand are

deprived of. This was a sample of pure government—-a sample of what may be called reform under a new name, (Applause.) SECOND BALLOT STONEWALL.

The speaker dealt at length with the Second Ballot stonewall lie severely criticised the action of Mr Malcolm, who, as Chairman of Committees, '' gagged'' the Liberal' speakers on the ground of irrelevancy and tedious repetition, and concluded, "It is not for me to make any suggestion to you, but J tell you that New Zealand "expects (Jlutlia to do its duty at next election. (Loud applause.) lou can form your own opinion with regard to the three Opposition stonewalls as to what character of Government you have at tlie present time." (Applause.)

GOVERN MEN T I'BOM ISES. Mr Herdmun, cont.nued Mr = oil, had •given a list of minor i -onuses which the Massey Government nad fulfilled.' Ho proposed to show how nono ef i th<s major promises had been kept. Tho Massey Government promised (1) lo reduce expenditure; ('/) to curtail borrowing; (3) reduction of taxation; (-1) to prevent wasteful expenditure; (•">) a new local government reform; (0) compulsory insurance against unemployment; (7) reform of tlie Legislative Council. Iho Reform Government charged tho Ward Government with an increase in expenditure during the last live years of £2,000,000. What was the position of the Massey Government'? Its Jirst year showed an increase of £741,000 over and alxivc tlie Ward Government's previous year, hut during this .year the Treasurer took credit for reducing tho Internal Affairs expenditure by tho cost of the general election and tho census. During three quarters of the current financial year tlie present Government's record showed a further increase of £638.000 over last year. (Applause.) BOA US AND RAIMY'A VS. Mr Masscv had said so much about his sympathy for the poor back-blockers that one could almost see the crocodile tears trickling out of his eyes. (Laughter.) But what hail been done.' Out of £(jt;;,UUU available for roads aml bridges only V2.yz.VM had been expended ni tiirco quariei.s <it the your. JJunng us last year of office the' Liberal ijovernuient spent £-424,000 at tlie rate of £IOO,OOO per quarter. As to tlie railways under Reform management during tlie eight months that had gone tlie revenue nad just about balanced _ the expenditure, and the expenditure had increased by £loß,000. There was a table putilislied .n the 'Gazette' wli.ch showed that lor tlie lir.a e.glit mouth* tlie expenditure per cent, of tho revenue ro»->e this year from '<0.36 last year to 76.81—an increase of £0 iOs per cent, over the expenditure of the previous year. And now the Government was going to make a herculean attempt to fix up the position and make the railway returns better than they really were. When Christinas time was approaching last year the Reform Government dismissed from every one of the railway workshops all tho casual workers employed in building engines, carriages, trucks, etc.—men who for six months previously. They were informed that it was no use their coming back for employment beloie .March 31 next although there was work enough for everyone. This would not have happened had tho Liberal party remained in power. Hundreds of men had simply been dismissed in order to fake a balance-sheet and try to de:eivo the people of tlis country. (Applause.) TREASURY BILLS.

Jlr Uusscll passed from this subject to 'treasury bills. When tlio Government went out of power, lie said, the position as regards these presented an absolutely clean sheet but by tho following March Mr Allen had raised over £700,000 011 Treasury bills in order to carry on. There was £807,000 in the Treasury, tho surplus of tho Liberal Government, untouched when tho socalled Reform Party went into power. At tho end of Reform's first year there was only £709,000 and of this it determined to devote £675,000 towards pul>Jii: works, but only £50,000 hud been so transferred.

BORROW IX (J. Mr Russell then dealt with the Reform Party's promises to curtail borrowing and loan flotation, and the promises had not been kept. Jn the lirst vear tliey borrowed £5,708,000. They 'said that Mr Mackenzie iiad borrowed £4,300,000 during the short time lie was in office, but it should be remembered that the Mackenzie Government went out of oflice a few days after the loan was iloated, and that loan was taken over by the Reform Government. Of this loan £1,205,000 came to. New Zealand. The Government had accounted for £5,0-17,000 during its first year of oilice, and a few weeks ago Mr Allen raised a loan of £4,500,000.

THE SINKING FUND. When Sir Joseph Ward introduced his Sinking Fund Bill into Parliament Mr Massey referred to it as futile, and Mr Allen said it was a farce. Yet in tho prospectus of Mr Allen's last loan a strong point was made that a sinking fund to provided to extinguish the debt in 75 years, and it was mentioned in the prospectus that if "similar arrangements were made for the repayment of the British debt it was estimated that the whole of the latter could lie repaid in 50 years." There was Mr Allen felling them that the British debt could be paid off by a method which lie described a few years ago as a farce. (Applause.) RELATIVE COST OF LOANS.

Mr Myers' loan, raised for the Macken/,ie Government, at 99, was ;U per cent; and Air Allen's, at 98, was 4 per cent, Mr Allen did not raise his last loan—although it was at L'i better price—for ;i0 years because he hail begun to see that it would be better for the country to make it a ID-years' loan, as the money market would possibly be lower. Mr Hussell believed that'the time was not iar distant when monev would be cheaper than it was to-dav, and the country would then get the benefit of the short-dated loans. (Applause.) AN "AMATEUR FINANCIER," The editor of the Otago Daily Times had been having a bout with h'ini with ljegard,. to financial questions. The Times described him as an "amateur financier," but it took three of the editorial columns of the paper, and finally had to bring Mr Allen up as a sort of a reserve in the rear, to trv and beat him down. But the Times always had one last word when it had nothing else left to say. It called him a member of the "stop-gap" Government. It waa like a little boy who was beaten, and when $ safe distance off oftlleg to bis

adversary, "Your mother takes in J ing." (Laughter.) TAXATION. I Taxation- during Mr Massey'j «i year in office had increased 3s liead. Mr Massey had promised to§ motor-cars for the purpose of up the main roads, but it had 73 wards dawned upon hira that it own friends who owned the motor.!# and the Bill was dropped like a potato. 1 LOCAL GOVERNMENT RKFOJiV. Mr Massey (continued Mr had said that the grants given f or and bridges by the Liberal wore merely bribes, but since ,. O J| into power jthc grants had been m a ,y the same system that the Governs condemned when in Opposition, grants to local bodies comprised ? pages of last year's Estimate*, j Russell had advocated the intioducti of the New South Wales system, wy! lie believed would solve the p'roljk but nothing had been done in local <2 eminent reform but to carry on the! system of doles. ' "

Reference was then made by Mr*B. sell to the Massey policy. the purity of the party in |, mver A said) was given in a paragraph i ( northern paper recently. Hon, W j .Massey in reply to a toast said, »j'J going to give a railway to Matata", not Parliament, but : 'l"—<roo,| j Farmer Bill! The Government e« sidered the East Coast railway tliciS important. 1 wonder about how railways he has said that. ™

INSURANCE AGAINST SICKXIto One plank in tho Reform platform 1011 was a system of compulsory a nee against thickness and )i)u-tnp|g niont but nothing whatever liad t, done in this direction.

LEGISLATIVE COI'NCIL IiMFOBH If Mr Massey liad been sincere aU reforming the Legislative Council j would have introduced his Bill to j| Lower House, and oil it being curried j sist on the I'ppcr House accepting] and making the members subject totl mandate of the people.' 'flioij the Massey Government talked a lot about the reform Legislative Council, it had doiui j. the same as the Liberals. Out of | appoint incuts made, four were gemj men who had previously been iiK>niia <>l the House <u Representatives. teen vacancies would occur before | House met in June and Mr .Masseru postponing making appointments | cause a large number of his Mipportg wanted to be elevated to the Legisluj, Council, lie believed that the Conad should be reformed out. of cxisleiu-e tl together, and in its place a legislatin committee of capable men appoints (Applause.) THE LAM) (QUESTION.

.Mr Ma.ssey (continued tin- .spcalj had always declared that his mini pojj was BottJemi'iit, more settli-inent n still moi'o settlement, ami promised tfe il' retiiiucd to power settlement iron liUTeaso as it had never increased k lore. Mr Herdmaii had stated tliatli total area .settled under .sett lenient« dition.s .since the present <MniTnina came into power was acres. !i Sir Joseph Ward's last year of ojfa .said the speaker, 472.000 acres wcre«t tied. Mr Massoy had Imh-ii boo«( as a Heaven-born .statesman who gu the trochoid to Crown tenants, but 4 question was not one ot' tenure, bntd prolitablo ownership. .Mr Maasfji ireehokl had not put one mow setttj on tho land. Ninety-three per centd the population oi' Xew Zealand q landless. The speaker hclieve<l in settlement as the best form ing»j iny; the poor man a chance to eel i tliu land. 1

ADVANCES TO MKTTM'KS.

Prior to 1890, continued Mr Row when Sir Joseph Ward's cheap mom scheme came into lone, the peoplt this country were paying very bij rates of interest. The 'stni<:glcs"ofll people in those days would licnellf meinbered. Up to March :iI, 1012, tba had been loaned to settlers t12.7£!,10 to workers £1 ,821,0(1(1. and tu k authorities 11,1015,001). When S Joseph Ward 7, record was couipu with that of Mr Allen it was Iminutij the latter had advanced C1,2-'l7,UWkl than the former to settlers in thell years of either party which lie ivasttl ing lor comparison. With regard toil vanccs to werker.s the decrease ri small. Why I' Because the money kj to workers did not all fit the rate I interest to nearly the .same extent, j the course of his speech at WyndJsaj Mr Hcrdman had stated that therell by no means the money available meet the demands made. As a mat( ot I act, tlie.se demands were from 1# authorities for which the old hibtf J'artv was not responsible, audit# ungenerous and unlair to say that was. Prior to July 2"> la>t year 1 Allen as Minister for Finaiac borrow £200,000 on Treasury bills from « State-guaranteed Advances Dcpartffltf depleting it to that extent. He acts ly borrowed for the use oi the Gores ment monev that was there lor the < of tho settlers of tho cuuutry, « Masscy party never wan a friend of lj small man. (Applause.)

''PUBLIC SCANDAL* '' Mr Russell thou proceeded to length with what lie lie: scandals." The lir<t ua- tlie (larlirk si])j>ointnu'iit, which claimrf good deal oi' his ai lent inn. Uoyil W lick, lie said, had ln-i-n "'lag out"' ! a Wellington massage ii.-tituti', " was appointed physical ju>ti:n-ror it' salary ot" Cr>oo, which \va- C.'HO hig» than'that paid in tli«- Isi-liot-ranM man in the teaching j.ini't's.-itui, a par with tlh' salaries ol* -<•(%:uitsbwj ing most important civil positions. j Allen denied having previutislv J ranged for Royd (iaitick V appointing and did not'even kii'iu <>!' the mao, wj at the inquiry a letter written Hard wick hiniith, of Wellington, produced showing lha' the Education hail gi\cn i-iin-i'liTationl the appointment Jong i..'l'tirr Tt h*i~l made. Mr Russell etice to this subject le. savin;:, "f t not going to hurl adje; ti* < ■ at Mr^ 1 but a thing; like that ■ : u- i. - om-, »«*• his memory on the point was it * what reliance can v,c put in b®. Minister of Finance.'' ■. Applaud-) . speaker went on t" di'iioiun'C Fisher's action in app»>nting ilr son to the Westport liarlmiir Uo»Wi <'OHcluded his reference i<> "public , dais" by detailing Ihe Public TNI' port affair. On being asked J* House for the report i'mhh |,r ' th'> l)p a ,| Q f t| l( , Trust Otlicc, « y man declined to give it, ami on ( further pressed said there ■ r * , j report. Yet live (lavs after a ft»| of this report was published in l °jj lington Times, and it had been F]

jn the Government printing office. This report related to seven million pounds ot the people's money, and the reason it had been suppressed to the House was because it showed that the legal bureau made a profit of £15,000, and there had been £:»m,000 saved by the use of the Public Trust Office. (Applause.) He (Mr Russell) did u °t know who had ,riven this report to the New Zealand Times. Mr Herdman had charged the supplier of the report with being disloval to the State, but the Minister iu tiling: to suppress the information was not acting true to the people of New Zealand. THE STRIKE.

Mr Herilman, speaking at Wyndham, hail attacked Sir Joseph Ward in collection with the seamen's strike. He said that the unhappy speech made by Sir Joseph Ward in Parliament when he attacked tlu ' special police for doing their duty in Wellington would never be forgotten. The speaker pointed out that the Liberal Party had always been opposed to strikes, and had passed the Arbitration Act. For 20 years, except l'or the slaughtermen's strike, New Zealand had enjoyed industrial peace till the time of the Waihi strike, since when things had gone from bad to worse. In the early days of the seamen 's strike a crowd had gathered in front of the old Queen's wharf in Wellington, and most of the strikers were on the opposite side 0 f the street. Throughout the day mounted specials were parading the streets, waving their batons. As a si|!iad passed the crowd at the Queen's wharf a few stones were thrown from the crowd. O'Halloran, in charge of the specials, cantered his men past, then called, "Halt! Right-about face! Charge!" and then tliev charged right into the crowd of men, women and children. Among the crowd was the late Mr George Laurenson, M.P., with his wife and the wife of another member, and they had to flee for their lives, information of what took place was brought to Sir Joseph Ward, and at night in the House he asked if the facts were as alleged, if they were lie asked that a stop be put to that sort of thing. After that speech the whole of the mounted men were withdrawn from the streets, and this was proof that Sir Joseph Ward was right in the action he took. (Applause.) Mr Herdman, at Wymlhani, attacked the Opposition with not standing bv the Government during the strike trouble. It was not the Opposition's place to settle the strike; it was the Government's. If the Liberal Party had been in power its duty then would have been to maintain law and order and keep the ports open, and it would have done so, but as it was not in power it stood quietly by and allowed the Government to use its own methods. Sir Joseph Ward, at the consent of his party, suggested that a committee be set up to deal with the strike, hut this was refused, as also were his proposals for a secret ballot and that Sir Joshua Williams should be invested with plenary and absolute power in the matter. The reason for the refusal was that the Government wished to make jioiitical capital out of the strike. Their idea was to get the fanners to think that they were being relied on to settle the affairs of the country, but the small farmers were realising now tliaf: they hail been used by the big men, who comprised the defence committee. These knew that the seamen's award would expire in January, and that if there was a strike in October there would be i empty pockets and anxiety to work by I the time the wool and meat were to be shipped. Sir Joseph Ward and himself diil all they could to bring about a settlement, but Mr Massev and Mr Herdman wanted a fight to a finish, and nothing but force would satisfy them. 1 Mr Massey brought down his Arbitra- i tion Bill—and an excellent Bill it was, — ■ only after the strike was over. At every conference at which he (Mr Massey) j presided he never said a word for labour, ! lint everything was for the employers, i Mr Russell also charged Mr Massey with using no effort to bring about a ' settlement. At the conference between j employers and workers Mr Massey sat at the head of the table, and when the ' employers said they would accept uoth- | highlit arbitration the conference broke 1 up within five minutes afterwards. Mr Massey then, as Premier, in the inter- j csts of the country, should have said that, he would pass a Bill making the workers Government servants for the time being—and be paid by the Government—and compel the shipowners to bring up their vessels for loading and j unloading under penalty of £IOOO a day I if tliev failed to do so. That would i have settled the strike, but Mr Massey j ilijl not rise to the occasion in a time of j crisis. If Mr Massey had been a strong '"an that strike would not have lasted as many days as it did weeks. (Applause.)

Mr Eussell then proceeded to deal wth the communications from Mr James (secretary of the Reform League in Wellington) which had been sent out to Agricultural and pastoral societies in connection with the strike, alleging that tln-ough league officials underground Methods had been adopted to make party capital out of the strike. THE MASSEY POLIC?. fbc Reform Government had failed I , ' ai ' I '.Y oiit its promises to settle the 'anil, curtail borrowing, reduce taxation, etorlit the Local Government Bill and l »e Legislative Council; it had giveil substitute for the second ballot, had tli ree autocrats as a Public 'J!?! 1 ' 1 ! 1 '"'"mission; its Native Land ill left the speculator opportunities to 0j Maori. It must now formulate "civ policy, as it cannot now use its woken promises as a policy. The ppaker scathingly referred to its naval tl° f C,V i 1( ' p f° rmers Ilow realised . tlle y H "cre extremists, and are now ® oln ß found the country promising this 1,1 that. IM i- Hcrdman had said that e > might have made mistakes, but Werc . doing their best. He (the liir ■ ''' (t ' ne| l them to an old moke 111 half-a-milc behind in a horse it » . as was '' ( l°i n S its best'' ter) 55 a to laugh at it. CLaugh-

IX CONCLUSION. heal' sa i ( l he had shown his y the Massey Government niucli? i" a " t ' lc ' r promises and that lf c i. eo , ' not he expected from them, foun Iti w ' ,en the election eamc part'' ' e people would do their ik,. ~"''"'"B this excreseency, in the '"eat n \ so-called Reform GovernLiljp') U |> 0 f tlio country and enable the fefo r m s art y, to carry on its splendid foneiirt measures as it had c °atinJi o 2l , yeari? ' rei S n - ( Loud and u ™ applause.) AND CONFIDENCE. s »yd moved: "That this , Wtuins thanks to Mr SusqoU

for his able and lucid address, and expresses entire confidence in the Liberal Party under the leadership of Sir Joseph Ward, and trusts to see it returned to power at next general election." This was seconded by Mr Joseph Mosley and carried, there being only a few ".Noes." Mr Russell, "in acknowledging the resolution, said he believed- that the Liberal Party would be returned to power at next general election. The Liberals were telling people the truths, and ho was prepared to meet any man 011 any platform who challenged his remarks that night. (Applause.) They intended to fight every seat in the country, and he would take it upon himself to pay special attention to Bruce, C'lutha and Mataura. (Applause.) He believed that after the election the good old Liberal flag would be on top once again.

Cheers were then given for the speaker and Sir Joseph Ward, and the meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the chair.