REFORM CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1138, 27 May 1911, Page 6

REFORM CAMPAIGN

MR. E. NEWMAN AT FEILDING. INCREASING TAXATION; HARASSING CONDITION OE ■ - LABOUR; • • : Mr. E. Newman, M.P. for Manawatu, /spoke in tho Parish Hall, Feilding, on •Thursday night on tho work of the past session in. Parliament. Mr. E. Goodbehero, Mayor of Fcilding, presided. Dealing with tho work of the past session, Mr. Newman said in the first of tho session time- had been pasted, while in the latter part important Bills had been rushed through, ilo had. introduced a Gaining Bill, which was sat on; but very soon tho , Government brought in a.Bill having the isamo objects in view, with tho result I that tlie bookmakers wore abolished. '.With tho object, of tho encouragement of thrift, -the National Provident Bill ifcad been introduced;. and. the speaker .referred to the weak points. One, was ,that it would interfere with t'hol'ricndly Societies, which did their work iii- > of the State. Another imiperfection was limiting tho amount ot to £200 a year. Still, ho thought jtbo Government deserved credit tor it in, and ho hoped it wonlcl (work satisfactorily. After criticising the National Debt Extinction l'und iAct, Mr. Newman went on to deal with the WerkeTs , Dwellings Act, which he described as an excellent Act. ..-..lhe Btate Advances to Workers' Amendment Act was also a good amendment. (The Government .always had its ear. to .the ground, and-h'o thought they would >oon bring in a Bill giving the .ireeWd. ■••"•• Taxation. . ; Coming to the subject of taxation, ,Mr. Newman pointed out that'tho cenIsiis showed the population to bo 974,564, ''an increase in tho last five years or !1U,630.' The result was disappointing, ; as fhey : had not got a million yet.. In ■1874 the increase, shown 'in. tho popullation for the previous fivo years was '114,898, and that was when-the "Stagnation party," as the Government now tailed it, were in power. Tho natural Irate of increase, was 18,000 a year. In itho session boforo last, there .was taxation of £488,000 brought down by the [Government. Mr. Newman showed how itlie taxation was. made up. Ho op- , posed tho principle of. the graduated tax on .income increasing at £2000 a year, because he, thought -men .getting over that amount ■• in salary - wore tho (ones they wanted to- get at. Hβ cnjticised the operation of the Bill which jlaid dawn that a parent's gift of over i£soo to his child was taxed by the Government. This ho characterised as legisilation run mad. • ■" would be J most seriously affected by this Act, .The death duties charged by the Government'were too high altogether, and vth'e Government had gone pretty low in '.their desiro to get revenue. Increased lailway rates of £100,000 were imposed. ■Be did not regret, the increased tax on lacing clubs, because they were possibly .the only .flourishing institutions. Taxaj.tion irent up in leaps'and bounds in fNow Zealand, arid we w'ero now tho most (highly taxed of tho. Australasian colonies, 50 por cent.' higher than that of Now South Wales and Victoria. If tho Opposition party came into' power, tho .first thing they would do would be to ! lower tho taxation rates... .. Administration. On tlie question of administration, the speaker hoped that next session the Government would not rush Bills through at the end of tho session. Another matter, requiring remedy was tho fact that th'p'-House did .not know the cost of -'loans. • The Government had refused'to agree to a resolution that even two years after tho floating of a loan tho Houso should bo informed of tho cost. The.Government's last loan■of £5,000,000 was a failure) the inves'tors taking up only 7 per. cent, of it. .Of coiirso the loan was underwritten, but it would mean that' with the next loan the underwriters would demand a . greater-charge. Tho Hutt Railway and Roads Bill came in for severe criticism, fi'he speaker thought the Government should spend the money on something Useful, like tho Apiti-Feilding railway. Ballanco, who was out of date regarding borrowing for the State, said £50,000 a year was enough for'the Government ,to borreiv. '' 'Mr. Seddon, also behindhand on tho subject, thought one million a year enough. Sir Joseph Ward, J who was quite up to date on the subject, (said from four to six millions a year 'was the country's capacity. (Laugh'■iet.) So that the Opposition did not know; where they were. .-Tho'Government had been extravagant in tho building of Government Houso and the erec- ' lion of Parliament House. In tho Government's retrenchment scheme, the Premier had stated there had been saved over £300,000 a year. ' That proved thero must have been gross extravagance inHhe. public'service.".'; New Zealand Industries. Mr. .Newman then dealt with the development of industries in the country, showing that sinco 1901 the number of ' hands in manufactories had materially altered. Tho figures proved that in tho manufacture of biscuits, tailoring, woollen mills, bests and shoes, agricultural implements, , blacksmith and coachbuilding work, engineering, 'soap and caiidles,' brush and broom makers, rope and twine, printing and stationery, the industries wero in 1910' employing a fewer number of hands in proportion to tho population than was. the case •in 1901. This was not because of the .want of , money, but because of tlje want of' confidence in the country.. It was not in the interests of the country that money should lie in tho banks. This want of confidence was not a matter of wages, but because of tbo harassing conditions of labour laid down by the Government. If they wanted to encourage industries, they must dp justice .to both worker -and capitalist., ; ' The Upper House. Tho constitution of tho Upper Houso needed a change. Just now that Houso was almost, a burlesque. ■ The wholo of ithis district from Taranaki to Wellington was without a representative, while Wellington city had ten representatives. Tho GoTornmont had made all their appointments for party reasons. He thought they should havo an elective TJpper House. Mr. Newman had been much amused during tho past two years i at being called a Tory and a Conservative. Tho old party which was called Tory had introduced Public Trust,. Education, Manhood Suffrage. Roads and Bridges Construction, and other Acts, not a bad list for "hidebound Tories." The present Opposition party had supported the Government in all progressive legislation. Tho time had come for a. now party to bo formed, comprising all tho moderate men on both sides. That would include all the present Opposition, because they wero all moderates. Concluding, Mr. Newman said that despite the fact that tho country was prosperous, taxation was going up very fast, and industries woro languishing; and if that was the fruit of a continuous Ministry, it vras time thoy had. a change. He thanked thep'eoplo in this end of his electorate for tho support they had given him at la-st election. In answer to questions, Mr. Nornnnn said he did not believe in spoils to tho victors; and he did not agrco that tho testimony of two medical mem that further imprisonment would impair the health of a prisoner was sufficient wison for his discharjre, /

On tho motion of Messrs. L. Gorton and H. M'lntyre, Mr. Newman was accorded a vote of thanks for_ his address, and for tho able manner in which ho had represented tho Manawatu clcctorato in Parliament.

MR. MASSEY AT OAMARU. REPLY TO. MR. MILLAR, 'A POLICY OF SBGEECIV (By Telesraph.—Press Association.) Oamaru, May 2G. Mr. Massey addressed-a largo meeting in the Opera House this evening, tho building being nc.irly full, and ho received a capital hearing. Ho dealt in part of his speech with the Hon. J. A. Millars speech in Dunedin. Beforring to Mr. Mijlar's claim of a large surplus being a good thing for a country, Mr. Massey said it was not always so, as a large part of tho surplus was made out of taxation, nnd that taxation came back largely on to the shoulders of tho people. Such was the case in regard to tho death duties, the increase in railway fares, the Customs duties, and tho special taxation on banks, etc. These taxes came back ou the worker and tho producer. He went on to refer to an extraordinary provision in the Customs Act which left it to the Minister to determine what duty should be levied on certain articles. This was without a parallel in any country in tho British Empire, and thai; was one of the first things his party would repeal if they came into power. Mr. Millar's Dilemma. MY. Millar had referred to the enormous sums that had been transferred from the Consolidated Fund to the Public Works Fund since the Government came into power. That was what Mr. Millar stated as a Minister, but the speaker quoted from Mr. Millar as a private member, showing that ho then held that deducting accrued sinking, funds which had been "seized" and the proceeds of'the sale of Crown lands, tho whole amount that had really been transferred out of revenue was only about a million anil a half. Mr. Millar was on the horns of a dilemma, from which he could extricate himself the best, way he could. Mr. Millar claimed that" tho railways had paid over i per cent, last year, but this was due largely to the increases in railway i'arw and also to the fact that the grain season, was an early one, coming within the financial year. Mr. Millar had charged, him with having changed his views, bnt he did not know to what Mr. Millar had been referring. Circumstances changed, but principle never. The principles that he nou- advocated were the principles that he, and those; associated,, had always advocated and 'would continue to advocate. They were the principles of true and genuine Liberalism and. not tho species of Liberalism which meant "spoils to 'the victors." Who Did The Damage? Then Mr. Millar had charged him that lie and his party had damaged the credit of the Dominion by their criticisms, but it was not those who criticised the financial affairs of the Dominion who injured its credit in London. The damage was done by those who were at the head of affairs and who mismanaged those affairs. Now they had been told that if they stopped borrowing one-half the business people would go insolvent and twothirds of those in employment would be out of work. That was the icorst tiling that he had ever heard said. Ho knew of nothing that' had been said or'done that was moro calculated to injure the credit of the country, and that statement had been made by the Prime Minister, the Eight Hon. Sir Joseph Ward. Then he (Mr. Massey) hnd been charged by Mr. Millar with , having, at Raglan, misrepresented matters in connection with the. five. million loan. He had on that occasion said that the credit of the colony was then the lowest of all thu colonics. The statement was absolutely true ns the quotations from 3J- per cents at the time showed. He was, however, glad to say that the credit of New Zealand had since recovered and , was now as good as any;.but tho fact was that the loan had been too large to put on tho market and the result had heen that the greatest rebuff had been experienced by Jvew Zealand that it had met with in the whole of its history. It should make those responsible for tho conduct of the country's affairs careful in the future. They had a great and good country, but its affairs had been shamefully mismanaged by the present Government, .

Strange Secrecy.—Why? Speaking of the difficulty of getting information as to expenditure and other matters, Mr. Massey said that they had sought information as to the cost of raising loans, but had been refused it. For years, they had asked for details, but had never been able to get them since tho AVard Ministry had been in : power. Previously every detail hnd been placed before Parliament, and they could be found in the Blue-books. AVhen'these details were denied, a'suspicion was naturally created that things were not satisfactory and moreover the people, through their repressntatives, wero entitled to the ■fullest information ns to tho country's financial operations. AVhen the last Loan Bill was before the Hous?, Mr. Allen had moved tho insertion of a clause requiring that within twelve months the details in connection with loans should be laid before tho House. That was a reasonable demand, but the Ministry had led a complacent majority into the .lobby against it, and ityttis defeated by, .45 .votes, to ,2V, the minority being composed almost entirely of members of the Opposition. A further proposal had been made to have the details submitted within two years, but had also been rejected, not" merely by Ministers, but by the direct representatives of tho people. That refusal was an insult not only to members of Parliament, but to the people of the Dominion. He intended to make a stand to secure information with respect to tho five million loan. , Tho next session would bo a short one, and there might not bo timo to do this then, but he hoped that whoever they sent to Parliament would assist in asserting the right of the people to the information. Other Questions, Mr. Millar had quoted him as saying that 90 per cent, of those put into the. Government service were appointed through political influence, their fitness being finite a secondary matter. AVell, he held that the State was entitled to the service of some of the best of its own men. Hβ believed that tho public service of New Zealand would compare favourably with that of any other country, and that was in spite and not because of the system. So far as the Civil Service was concerned, admission was by examination, but it was not so in.regard to the general public service. Therein appointment was due to political influence, and they could easily understand thaf, under such a condition, great wrong might bo done. AVhat ho had proposed was that there should bo a Public Service Board, who would select the very best men available for every position. The system was not a new one. It had been in existence in England for 50 years, and in Canada and parl.s of Australia for many years, and it had worked well. They fonn'd Liberal Federations pulling the wire 3to secure appointments, and instead of a system of political influence what ho wanted was a system under which tho son or daughter of any man without political influence might havo the same chance of getting Government employment as the son or daughter of a Ministor of the Crown. Ho was satisfied that under such a system there would be much loss dissatisfaction in the railway service, for men would bo promoted according to their ability and their length of service. Mr. Millar had declared that tho policy of the Government was a policy of progress, but it was a policy of progress into debt and of progress in a growing expenditure. Mr. Massey was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.