BRUCE BY-ELECTION.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLVI, Issue 78, 2 April 1920, Page 6

BRUCE BY-ELECTION.

REFORM CANDIDATE. Mr James 'Begg, the Reform candidate for the vacancy caused by the resignation of -Sir James Allen as member for Bruce, addressed a meeting of electors in the Presbyterian Church flail at Stilling on Wednesday, when a'nout 30 weie pie.-ent, including a number of ladies. Mr Joseph Smith was voice! to the chair, and the candidate was listened to with keen interest right -throughout his address. The chairman briefly introduced the ! >i»ker. It was well known that Sir .lames Allen was to lie the High Commissioner in 'London. He had been the member for Bruce for about 28 years, : iid „>!'■ James IJegg was his aspiring MH-cessur. Xo doubt after April 14 he would be 'Sir James' successor.. Mr Begg was a eom;.;irative stranger to t'he Hnjcc electois, but he was well- known in the C'lutha as one of their farmer settler*. He was also a member of the lOfliciency Board, chairman of the Otago 'Repatriation Board, a prominent member of the Farmers' Union, a Olutha county councillor and a director of the South Otago Freezing Company. He was sure that if Mr Begg was elected lie would be a credit to the cle-ito-atc. Mr James Begg, who was received with applause, thanked the chairmanfor his introduction.. He was not so well known to the electors of Bruce as te tlsc people of Clntba. He was perhaps best known -as a Olutha county councillor. He had been a farmer nearly all his life. He had no axe to grind. He had no personal ambition to serve, but after a good deal of pressiue be had consented to contest t'he Bruce election as a matter of duty, and lie had received of support from nil over the electorate. To him, if elected, Bruce would be second to the Dominion. It was not the usual statement for a candidate- to 'make, but he believed the Dominion should rank first and every constituent come next. At the start 'he wished it understood! that he was standing as a supporter of the Government. He believed that the Hon. 'Mr Massey's Government were the most likely party to tackle the difficult questions that would have to be faced. If tbr Prime Minister could bring down legislation- to give effect to the recent manifesto issued by him, he would deserve- very well of -New Zealand. There appeared to be a want of interest in the by-election. He hoped that would be remedied- A by-election was a gnage of public opinion, and served to act as a guide to the parties in the House. No personalities'were going to be indulged in, as far as he was concerned. Mr Edie and lie were good ffiends, and a»fter the election tliey would still be the same. (Applause.) There were several difficult problemsthat the Government would have to tackle. At the present time there waplenty of money and an apparent prosperity, but there was also much discontent. There was- plenty of spending, but there was general complaint that the people were no better off; in- fact, it was not a healthy prosperity, and was not solid. We were getting higher prices for our exports, but were not making a good bargain. The cost of living problem had to be tackled. The first thing was -to get full value for the pound note. A note was not now worth a sovereign, whic'h was shown by the fact that a sovereign' would buy more dollais than a note would. Gold was quoted at £o 10s per ounce in London, being pa id for, of course, in notes. In India and Ceylon the pound note had shrunk one half. That was why farmers here had to pay 2s tid for their corusacks. America was a little better, but there the pound had dropped from four dollars 87 cents to three dollars GO cents. The Yankee was cute and shrewd, and this showed that there was something wrong with our credit. Foreign adverse rates of exchange, how- j ever, were not the disease; they were but the symptom. He believed that the 'first duty of the Government was to try to get back to a sound curreney — to re-establish -the gold standard-, and reduce the amount of paper currency — and also to bring about a state of affairs whereby we would- be able to de- . maud gold, and meet our foreign ex changes with gold. He did not believe we would be able to reduce the cost of living until that was brought about. It was not only in- New Zealand, but it was throughout the Empire, and we must get full value for our paper ci/Hlits. The cost of living affected everybody, and although the depreciation "of our credit was part of the cause, the cost of tools was another factor. 'There had -been- an- enormous consumption of goods during the war, and there had been a terrible destruction of men and women producers. The production of the world had gone down, and there was a scarcity of supplies, and this caused high prices. Another reason of the increased cost of living was profiteering, which seemed to be a difficult thing to detect, and so far as be knew no case had been sheeted home. He could not believe that it was due to the , growth of the war, but no doubt in times of scarcity the tendency to ex- . tract greater profits was more in evi- ( dence. At the same time Where profiteering could be brought home it should be severely dealt with. He believed profiteering was the result more than the cause of high prices, and would: dis- 1 appear with the return of a plenty of , supplies. While he put the first remedy ' for the liiph cost of living as a reform . of the currency, thrift and hard work . would have a great effeet in reducing it. We must all practise economy. 'An important matter for that district. was the river protection works. In the past there had been confusion owing to a multiplicity of boards. Even-one did what they thought best for the portion they were interested in, and there was no general scheme. Tie regretted the report of the Rivers Commission was not*yet available. 'He hoped, it would meet with their approval when published. '('Hear, hear.) The members of the commissdoi* were capable men, and experts' opinions were valuable,

but the experience of able men—laymen with practical knowledge—-was also vi-'rv valuable. He 'believed experts should haw able men over them- ai«l their work checked by non-experts, jrho were able and bad plenty of commonseiwe. He 'hoped they would all criticise the report of the commission, 'but lie Imped it would be constructive criticism, an-l endeavour to evolve someiliing better. The work must be carvied ont- with- speed. Tliera must be no delay* -(Applause.) When a man was returned to : Parliameiit his opinions were often taken about matters that lie knew nothing about before election. He .believed in leaving railway routes and suchlike thing* to men whose 'business it was to atteiwj to these- things, and criticise their findings if necessary.. With iiie increased cost of living wages must be reconsidered, and all pensions should be increased to keep pace with the extra cost. At present the extra cost was put on to those least able to bear it. i-Yll taxation should 'be jjut on those best able to bear it. Old age pensions and soldiers' pensions should' not be taxed by the increased cost of living. He admitted wages would never be able to catch up on the increased cost, but undue inflation must be cheeked.

'He was in favour of the present education system, which lie wanted to see maintained and 'improved. A child should 'have the opportunity of obtaining all the privileges offered of a higher education if it showed sufficient ability. University education was of use only to those showing special aptitude. lie did not believe in specialising in education and leaving the general education of a child. The principal Object of education- was to benefit tlie child itself —to make it better physically, mentally, and morally than it would otherwise be. If the education did that it fulfilled the principal object, and it followed that such a child would become an, excellent citizen. 'Back-blocks scliools were at a great disadvantage, and always had been, and lie was in favour of giving them special concessions with regard to getting better teachers.

With regard to public works, it was just a question- of whether this country was not over-developed for its population. Before they proceeded with public, works on a large scale they would have to go in for immigration. (Hear, hear.) That was the first thing that had to be tackled. He thought that, the 'Government should see to the bringing of people here of the right class, and then they could handle new works. We did not have the men here for a vigorous policy of public works construction'. The present systor of grants to county councils was demoralising and not satisfactory. Mr Begg explained the methods adopted to get subsidies from the Government. If a member was very active and "pushed his barrcw" he got a grant here and a subsidy there. He believed that they should have increased subsidies to county councils. The subsidies- -should be graduated according to the amount of -ihe- rate. 'He believed that inci eased subsidies were t'he only w r ay that they would get satisfactory county finance. The giving of bribes, 'by means ol' giants, should be stopped. Of course, as long as the .method was in vogue he wouki not see Bruce neglected if. elected" as their member, 'but he would do his 'best to "get the principle altered. (Applause.) He- did not want patronage and have to go with cap inhand asking a favour from a 'Minister. •Every member, of Parliament saw extravagance in the other member's constituencv.

He believed in the graduated income tax, ami would increase the amount of the tax to be paid 'by those earning what might be called snug in conies. Those able to pay taxes must bear their fair share.

Mr Begg said he believed in the freehold system. 'He realised that there was too much land speculation in. New Zealand at -the present time. They -had now become more or less speculators in land, which- was a bad' thing tor the Dominion. The land at present was a high- price. This depended on our access -to the great centres of the world. If we could- reach Loudon from New Zealand as quickly as those living within 20 -miles the price of laud- here would be as 'high as that 20 miles- from that town. We must, depend on the 'means of access for our produce to the world's 'markets. The fanners had been squeezed by t'he shipping companies, and freights had been, fixed at Home and not here. The Dominion had- undoubtedly been bled. 'IJe advocated a shipping co-operation between fanners ami the Government on similar lines to the management of the Bank of New Zealand.

The Government were on the right lines in inducing people to own 1 their own houses. He did not believe ill the Government 'building; houses for the purpose of lea-sing them, as that would lead to large losses. A man bad only to find £lO aud the Government put up a house. He believed every man should own his own farm and 'his own house.

With regard to repatriation, experi- : ciice as chairman of the Repatriation ' Board had been that the provisions, on the whole, had been adequate, and he ' was pleased to say that the Returned . Soldiers' Association of Dunedin had. j never adversely criticised the- 'board. I 'The unemployed allowance of £2 2s a j week had never .-met with his approval, j and in ]4' : months the Otago Board had ( only paid out £lO under that heading. I It was to the great credit of the New ! Zealand soldiers that 75 per cent, of ' them had not asked help from anybody. In Otago 80 per cent. had. not made any claim. (Applause.) Members of the board -had visited Canadp, America and Australia during the last 12 mouths, and on. their return to New Zealand they had told liim (the speaker) Wvat New Zealand had- nothing to learn from these countries on the larger questions of repatriation.

In conclusion, Mr Begg said ihey had only received short. notice of -fehe «lee- i tion. He would "toot toe able to get roinwl ami see all tili-e ©lectors, "hut ihe< appealed to ttem, if Ms views met wifh

their approval, -to give liirn their support. He did not want to thrust himself upon the.ni. The request to Mm 'to stand had been representative of the district, so lie offered Ms services, and the verdict was in their bands at the poll. Whatever the result was 'lie would bave no ill-feeling, and if elected he would do his best to justify their choice and work in the interests of the Dominion and Bruce. (Applause.)

1 n reply to the chairman's invitation; for questions, an elector asked if the candidate was in favour of the removal of the embargo on bides. ■'Mr 'Begg replied that be was in favour of the removal of the embargo, but not the way it was removed. lie believed every farmer should have an open 'nnarket for his produce, but when a regulation is made everyone should abide by it; There should 1 not have been any hoarding allowed, livery hide should 'have 'been taken at the old price.

A young man asked if the .candidate was in favour of compelling the working man to live on sheep's 'heads and plucks.

Mr Begg, smiling, -said the young man must 'have ,;a good memory. The matter referred to was now ancient history, and dealt with a remark once made "by his- late father. He would not compel a working man or a millionaire to cat any special food. He defied anyone to say that any employee bad ever had any reason to complain of tiie "tucker" provided"by 'him. He had that clay been giving delivery of stock, etc., to three of his late employees. One had been wit'; -him for HO years, another 20 years, and it'lve third 10 years. Ilis men were his friends as well as bis employees. (Applause.

A man- rose in the hall and said he had cooked oil Mr Begg's property, -and could vouch it hat there was no stint and everything was good.

'Mr T. A. Johnston; moved a hearty vote of thanks to the candidate for his address, and that the meeting of electors considers he is the most fit and proper person to represent Bruce.

Mr T. Kirby seconded the motion, which was carried by acclamation.

•Mr Begg brie-fly returned' thanks, -and proposed a vote-of thanks to the chairman.