HAWKE'S BAY SEAT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 341, 30 October 1908, Page 7

HAWKE'S BAY SEAT.

SPEECH BY SIR W. RUSSELL,

RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION CRITICISED. * 7Tf— V .9.1 LABOUR LEGISLATION. (BI IKLESBAPn.—BPICUL COBRKSPONDBHT.) Hastings, October 29. ■ Sir William Russell opened his candidature for the Hawke's Bay T seat-atHho" Princess Theatre, Hastings, this evening;- 'Iho<building was crowded, and the candidate-was accorded a popular reception;-"' . In the courso of his<>speeoh 'Sir Russell said that for the past 18 'years tho present Government had dominated the Dominion, and a strong .Opposition was absolutely necessary, because;many- of- the Government candidates, including'vhis -'opponents,, based their claims to popular support on their being Government supporters. This really meant nothing, because neither they nor the Government had declared a policy unless Mr. Carroll's declaration that political rest is the thing mo'sf : wanted" could be interpreted as one. .When economy and non-roliance on tho foreign money-lender wa-s the Government's policyHHeir supporters applauded. Now tho Government 'boa'sfcd that' they were the most lavish borrowers in. the world, and the same supporters applauded. When the 999 years' lease was described as an inspired policy .these supporters cheered, and now, when it was pronounced accursed, 'they still cheered. When the treasurer claimed support for the: fall in taxation through the Customs his supporters grow hilarious. Now, when -thy Customs'' revenue is increased, they continue to rojoice. The truth was the Governraenti'hSd no--policyv: They waited for the mandate of the people, which meant they trimmed,, their sails to catch a favourable breeze)" and 1 their ' followers sat comfortably in the stern. A Band of Brothers. The five candidates opposed, to him were a band of brothers, united in one object to support an unknown Government • / polioy. The nearest description he could give of the Government's policy was to liken it to. tho action of a flash young man who, entering an hotel,'calls out to all and sundry, "What you want," and then leaving ; the next mau who goes in to foot the bill. It was not the Government policy he deplored, it was their want pf policy. The questions of universal' military training, Imperial preference, reform of local • government, formation of a civil service board, aiid a comprehensive ' system for tho superannuation ; of.. all Government servants were all'subjects whicli ought to be dealt with, : >l)ut - they, required statesmen to handle them, whereas New. Zealand was governed by opportunists.

Military Training. He alluded to the necessity for universal military training, pointing- out that the suddou outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the Balkan conflagration, the unrest in India, the universal arming of Europe, the annual increase of the potency of the German Navy, and the organisation of China and Japan demonstrated the necessity for some proper national organisation of our manhood. The country was now dependent on a few patriotic volunteers, and upon' the children "in the shape of the school cadets. The Prime Minister had recognised the necessity for such organisation, but his only panacea was to induce half-grown la3r"to "become"volim~ teers. The thought of- individual- saorifice scared him. They were constantly boasting of the example they set the Empire. Well, let them set an example of instituting universal military training. 'He approved the increase of the subsidy to tho Navy, but that involved 110 personal sacrifice. He advocated'a- system of military training based on the system in force in Switzerland, tlfeiniost patriotic,' arid' democratic nation in Europe. There was no spirit of militarism, ,butii»t.,gO -youth;pnysically fit was drafted .'to '. a " militaj-y. school {or 45 days. Afterwards he'was? called.' out every other year for 13 years for 10 days'; training. Ho shot 50 rounds every year under At 32 he'^ent'on the-re-serve, and once in every,/our. "years.did (leight days' training. At 45 lie, joined the vetorans' reserve, and at 50 he had completed'his ser-. vice, after serving 174 d£ys,..or;Tess,''tha"n half a year. Tho Swiss ;fiitald." at"24 "hours' notice put 150,000 mon'on the frontier, wit-h----130,000 in reserve, whilst having, practically no embodied army. New Zealand'",/ Spent £214,470 on its defence,,vote, had. no organisation worthy of a name,:imd could not put 1000 men ill the field for love or. money. IV was an open secret that-"tKe' Defence Committee were practically hopeless of achieving, any good under tho existing conditions. I Lands for Settlement".

Some would remombf/>"j;hat ,he had said that the policy of the land for settlement was jeopardised by faulty administration. There were some who were angry .and believed he was hostile to tho Act, but he could not conceive how any one could bo so foolishas to believe him opposed to the Act, for'ahappy, contented peoplo living on their'fiwri' freeholds was an object; everybody sire to see. He advocated--every -Crown tenant being able to acqtfirotho .freohold of' his land, and such was bis present,'desire He had suggested a schetne" to'enable "that" to be brought about, whilst, continuing, tba leasehold system in addition/ _ jjij pointed out that the Crown tenants should be allowed to pay off the capital'Sabe ,®Cthe '-land I' ' au< * the,money, so:obtainedshould be applied to purchasing .further-.es-tates to bo again cut up on thft.LlfiasehbH.. system with right of purchase. of tins-year about six mfllionsrwill have been invested by tho Crown -in lands , for settlement, and suppose a sum of, ten per cent were repaid annually a suni^of.'-between' four' and five hundred thousand pounds would Jiow be available for the- -fresH' estates. Tlie Government had adopted an idea lie suggested Page-13 of the Budget suggests that ' a body of, . intending, settlers, should select a block of land; 'negotiate with the owner for tho purchase, and, if the GovJ eminent approved, they; would guarantee the mortgage interest, and charge the tenants interest and sinking the; Tyholo amount of the purchase money was- repaid This scheme applied to. the.,future! wherns his suggestion applied J;b_the-past,-" S»amount to be paid by existing Crown tenants wf+l J* ?- oquisltio " of thoir freehold should bo settled by an actuary. ■ " The Cabinet, ,3 would be tho last to advocate narrow localism in politics, but'as "politics had degenerated into a scramble for the-publie wf y ' + i Parliament had become little .better-than a board of public works, it was as well to see that all parts of the Dominion were represented in' the Cabinet/.- Sir Joseph Ward, Messrs. Fmdlay, Millar, . and M'Nab all hailed from Otago, .and Mr. Hall-Jones came from close on the borders of Otago so that five out of the eight Ministers came from far south, whilst Mr. Fowlds and Mr M'Gowan came from Auckland. All these "Seven are city men, and the only representative of tho country was tliat keen, active politician, Mr. James Carroll... There was no representative ,in the Ministry, .between Otago and Auckland, except Mr. Carroll, who was working his hardest to push the railway from Gisborne to Auckland, and so divert-the Hawke's Bay trade with Gisborne to the northern city. Borrowing, He never advocated lavish borrowing Last year it amounted to over 2} millions' ""d about 2} millions were paid in interest! All that interest went out of tho Dominion and partly accounts for the scarcity of monev at the present time. It-would, of course bo unwise to cease public works, so moderate borrowing was unavoidable. Ministers were fond of twitting thoso who voted against borrowing for.subsequently' asking for tho expenditure of money in their, electorates, 1 but the two positions were quite compatible. If a loan wfero carried every constituency wbuld have to pay their share of the-interest, and each constituency was therefore entitled to a share of tho expenditure. If all public works were reproductive there would not be so much to say, but many returned no interest, and were actually a cause of expeiise. Ho illustrated this by tho railways. Tho Railways.,, . ! , The railwayß had cost £26,735,140, or in i found numbers a guarter of our debt. £h«t :

earn nominally 3 per cent., bat he really believed that if proper accounts were kept that they did not earn bo much. The borrowed money lost 4 per cent., so on the Government figures there was an annual loss of a quarter of a million, whereas under effi--eient administration they should show a profit, and decrease of taxation. The people of this district paid their share of the losses on the railways, but, they benefited by no expenditure. The money spent in railway extension last year was £1,296,672, whilst the increased profits on the railways last year was £61. Could any private business be carried on on these terms? The distribution of,the raijways showed that they .had not been impartially administered. There wore 1521 'miles,of railways in the South Island,' as against 953 miles in the North . Island. . The population of the North 'Island was about 100,000 greater than the South, and on this basis there should be about 700 more miles of railway in the North Island. The votes last year were £460,000, for the I North and £421,000 for the South Island, but ! the,-outstanding liabilities on the ' railways ;sYcre „ .£669,000, ,of . which £622,000 was for the Midland Railway, from Christchurch to Hokitika. The population of West-land in 1881 was 15,550, and in 1906, a quarter of a century afterwards, the population had declined to 14,976. The railways pay about 3 per cent., and it takes 70 per cent, of the earnings to pay the management. In New South Wales, which was not :SO: fertile a. country, the railways paid nearly •s;per cent.j and the .working expenses only amounted to 55 per ccnt. of the takings. The Manawatu Railway, which had the benefit of i Government antagonism, paid 7 per cent., notwithstanding that they. pay. over £7000 a j'ear in taxes, and £5000 last year to their superannuation fund. The management expenses only amounted to 60 per cent. These facts showed that whilst 'our railways were losing money every year the New South ales and Manawatu railways were earning ,a considerable profit. Arbitration Act. 'There- were many who said the Arbitration Act had broken down. He had helped to pass it, and although its administration had, been often imperfect it should be amended and made useful. The. workers were especially interested in its maintenance, and they must learn to abide by the decision of the Court. . They had the alternatives of strikes and arbitration. In strikes, he had seen men loyally obeying the dictates of their unions against their own judgment, ! and he had seen famishing wives and children, and all the other- attendant horrors of strikes. The loss to workers, employers, and the community in general was enormous, and mutual bitterness was engendered. It was' neither •• a Christian nor a businesslike .way of settling a dispute. In the working of the Arbitration Court sometimes the workers and sometimes the employers felt aggrieved, but the law should prevail, and it was ordinarily- just'. He was ; altogether opposed to . brute force, and he, therefore, approved the. principle of arbitration,

Licensing. His remarks on the licensing question would probably not please either the "No-Li-cense'.' people or "The Trade." Ho was himself extremely, moderate, but he was disinclined to compel others to be total abstainers. Ho was against "No-License" be-' ing carried by a bare majority becauso one .election might'undo the result of the previous election, and the question would bo kept continuously open, resulting in confusion and the deterioration of the trade'. 'He gave the temperance people credit for the good that jthey had done, and he believed in the rigid enforcement of the present law, which would have-the effect'of straightening up most of tho bad houses. He favoured maintaining the existing law as it stood. Another matter of vital importance was. the recent legislation creating a monopoly in hotels. In many instances the rent was out of all proportion to the value of the building, and. thelessoes had to pay high premiums to get possession. They .often had to sign a blank transfer Before getting possession, and the lease jwaa practically terminable at the,will of thelknd•lord, thus'creating'tied houses. Liquor, good Or bad, had to be purchased at nigh prices' from ; tho'-landlord,'. while better 3 and cheaper liquor oould be bought m the open market.; ; Groceries and supplies had in some instances also to be bought-from the landlord, . and as a result the licensee had to put up with high, rents, -short; leases, bad ■liquor, and dear supplies,; and was consequently blamed when the landlord has been' "the principal sinner. Tied houses were an unmitigated evil, and the next reform of the licensing law should be in the direction of enabling the licensee to buy in the open market, whilst no license should be granted until the lease is produced, giving the licensee permit of occupation for the period of- the ■ license. Sir William Russell concluded by asking for no favour, but to be judged; on his- merits; but whether the electors voted'for or against him they would all acknowledge that, if elected, his only ' endeavour would be to do his best to serve the country lie had resided in for 45 years. . At the conclusion a vote of thankß was .proposed and carried with some dissent.