PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 233, 25 June 1908, Page 11

PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS.

MR. IZARD AT THORNDON

; WILL STAND AT NEXT ELECTION.: ■ About seventy pcoplo assembled in the Sydney .'Street schoolroom on Tuesday night, when Mr. C. H. Izard, M.P. for Wellington North, delivered a pre-sessional address. Mr. J. 0. M'Kerrow was voted to the chair. . Mr. Izard said that the chief.event;.that ..(had happened since ho last addressed his conatituentn was also the saddest—the death of the Rt. Hon. R- J. Seddon. The loss was irreparable. In paying a tribute to the deceased statesman,, Mr. Izard declared that tho idea that his was a one-man Government was baseless, and this was shown by the fact that two-mombers of , his Cabinet,, the Hon. W. Hall-Jones and Sir Joseph Ward, had shown themselves thoroughly oapable.of carrying on ' the Government.. • ;He believed any of their colleagues.'would .have been able to do so. 'At, the' -late Imperial' Conference ho statesman'from overseas was more; respectfully hoard than the present Prime Minister of New Zealand. He, (Mr! Izard) believed that imperial preferential trade, which was' then disoussed,. would yet become a real thing, and the Motherland would grant tariff preference tpi the-products- of the colonies.' ". He:also expressed; approval of the alteration; of title from"'colony to Dominion, and the parallel ohange from M.H.R. to M.P. •Mr.i Izard next "spoke of the Advances to Workers' Act,. 1906, which enabled those enin manual or clerical'labour, to borrow money at> A loiv rate of interest from tho Government for ; the purpose of : erecting homes fbr themselves.' In. the :first-,six months £8500 >.was in Wellington alone. ! Altogether,: according to - the' latest figures', £27,575 had been borrowed,' and the security .was over £44,000. . >1 . " ' ■ LAST SESSION'S WORK , — It ,was many years since so much good' work - was dono by; Parliament. in: a single session, as was accomplished last.year. ; Mr.. Izard .begah a of'.the work'.ofthe session , by. briefly noticing ther new tariff), which he said had given more geneval satisfaction in tho country than-any-previous tariff..,/.He .would, however, have liked to see still further, reductions on the necessaries of life;- The net gain per head to the:population .by ; ,..tho new. tariff; was about'?,,6s.. a year, a' : siim to be reckoned with by people who,had 'large families.;' Many thought' tho. duty,.should have . off flour; (Applause.)., .He. vpted;,for, the Bill that was brought in;with:..that, object, .and' regretted that it was among the slaughtered innocents. He spoke approvingly, however, of tho flour and to'ther: Products' / Monopoly Prevention Act of.last session;?which allows the duty to be; taken off wheat-; flour, and potatoes,'at the direction ,'of a:. .' Court, when the. prices become "excessive. He believed tho Sale; of Food- and' Driigs Act would prevent the continuance of. that adulteration which had been. largely, going on, to the detriment of tho welfare of the nation. Tho Infant Lifo Protection Act was also commended. .. , THE CHINESE.;. ) . : The Chineso question was also to tho fore. During the last eleven years the departures of Chinese had exceeded; tho "arrivals by 230," but iii. the ' last four years, even with tho £100, poll-tax, the arrivals exceeded the departures by. 294, and 30 of them were women.;. (A Yoice: Let them in free.) An. education '"test; in; addition to' the poll-tax' was embodied in.an Act of last session.. With ; the'tax alone,' even if it was £1000, the Chinese.: would.'get: in, all the same, for the mqney?was, paid .not by those who came in, • but,,by- slave-drivers; in ■ this '.country.' .:' He thought ..the' education test : would-Jbe effective,>;;.but.;.if.- not,- scheme iriust be * devised;'for. wo wero'not 'going, , to''h"ave' i tho' ChinesO here. -'(Applause:)" Hcrstill thought. thal'HhV cou"titry/wa"s.!.holfc ready .for/a nn'tversal. Saturday , He had for some time past favoured a plebis- ; '.takeiuin each ..locality,- so .thafc a - farming community need not, necessarily havo ' the same half-holiday: for; shops as an urban ' • district.:.'. The.: Act of -last session" enabled a poll of the district electors to ba taken on a requisition being . presented to r the"local? governing- body., This seemed to him a fair way' of . settling ' the matter.' .'" Similar 'pro T visions obtained in connection with tho : factory; half-holiday. ' /. : ? ..^ : The f Public .. Service Superannuation Act Was.'also.•commended, but while acknowledge' ing. the actuarial pre-eminence of Mr. Morris Fox,' the.speaker Said hq hoped it would-be found/possible to reduce- the retiring age to 60,f0r itien, and.s,o for women, and to,increase the allowances to widows and orphans. There: were also ' some oauses of hardship, which.'should be removed.?' " , THE LAND QUESTION. ?In;.reviewing .the land legislation- of ,last year, .Mr. Izard declared• himself opposed: to anv further sain of Crown lands. He coil- ' sidered-.that; the settlers had good reason to be satisfied with the renewable lease. It : was but .right that- at each revaluation, 'the unearned increment, should go to the State. .: 5e warmly:approved of the Government's intention, to devote £200,000 for special roadingwOrks, as.it was'- most .'important to open.' up'.the country ; and. increase ; its productivity,. "(Applause;)i/ , ; The', national -endowments, with their present vrentals- of ;£46,000 were not '-to bo laughed at,:as would increase with sought 'to move. an. amend-' ment; m* the direction 'of having all the remaining ;;Crown lands set -aside for endowgent purposes,, but .was ruled out of order, tie hoped to try again. INDUSTRIAL ARBITRATION. :On : .the arbitration question, Mr. Izard said the: Act had done a lot of good. If it had lost tho confidence of employer and emP J oyec t .something else, should be devised to talceutß place. The Auckland tramway \ empioyees .were evidently'.ready to refer' their'" dispute to : a. special; Board of Conciliation, and,ho thought that in future disputes' it might' be arranged for representatives of each side to bo -appointed without'delay, and' a» impartial chairman to sit with them and act as-.umpire.. A kind of compulsory, quick arbitration,, like that, might.;prov.o satisfac- . wry. (Applause.) . Mr. Izard deprecated tho delays, in dealing with disputes. under the present; system. .' • ' : ' THE SECOND BALLOT. . He - preferred the absolute majority voting system', to the': second, ballot," and did not at..all.,;agree with ;tl;e .contention that tho votersj .were not sufficiently, intelligent for preferential voting. It"was "perfectly simple tor the/electors, and. the, only trouble would 1)0 on the part of the unfortunate people who had to .[count the -votes. ' • ■ .. - "Government after Government has promised to, do something for tho Friendly Societies,- and somr of us . mean to try and see it done,, continued tho member. lie also expressed warm approval of the principle of national, annuities.,; -If. tho Government next session tried-.to shirt its duties, on the plea that .members wero uncomfortable in theirtemporary."; quarters, they would find that the House, was .determined to do its dutv In .conclusion, he omphatically denied . the rumour, thiit. he was - not going to contest the seat again, and declared that he would P u ° Pollj and that his name would probably not be at the bottom of the list. (Anplause.) A vote of thanks and confidence moved piamati n,c 1 was carried- by ac-