REFORM CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1170, 4 July 1911, Page 6

REFORM CAMPAIGN

" FRENZIED FINANCE."

SPEECH BY. MR MASSEY REPLY.TO.SIR J. CARROLL. STRONfi PLEA FOR THE SMALL MAN. . (By. .Association.) ~ Hastings, July 3. 'Mr.. Massey .addressed a.crowded- meeting, here to-night, and received.a cordial wolcome. ■ His object in speaking was'tho approaching- general' election;- ■ and ho wished-to -put things' be'fote the-- ;peo'ple from'' tho;Opposition point of. view. He said that the present Government had been' so 'long in power that a number ofabuses hud.grown tip' that required to be remedied. He hoped th? people would give.attention to public affairs during tho next' 'few months. He said that one of tho'abuses of the present day was government by patronage. They knew of" the promises that;-were made before-tho elections— promises that'-sometimes were "kept and soinetinles not. It';wa's absolutely necessary for this country to have clean,' i honest administration.' Tho publio debt was piling up, and the cost'ot living was piling .Hp. r A reduction of 'the cost 'of living was [wanted.' The Government 'was. borrowing too rapidlj, and going too. far. Borrowing should be kept level with the increase of the. population. This year we were' about' Xl 5 ..per- head: in • advance of tlio '.increase' of population. Every ' -five years daring the last twenty years the amount borroived' had been '(respectively)' ioiir,anda half millions, six-and a"lialf,twelve and a half,'and' eighteen" and a lialf "millions.' Tho country's, indebtedness .last year' increased'six and a half millions. ..The v.increased revenue was about one' million,'and tho increase in the cost of government' nearly half a million. Tho arrivals in the Dominion barely balanced the departures.' • " "To Buy Votes." The Government was going too fast . a pace. .A year ago the Prime Minister said tho Government ought not to bo pressed [. to spend money, yet;in tho' succeeding, i twelve' months'he. borrowed 6,} millions. . "Why ?'i Because' the elections were . approaching,'"dndy" added .Mr; Massey, ■ "I am talking plaiiily, it was to buy-votes." Twenty'years ago Mr. Ballance said, "Our ■ debt'is great; we have marched at a great , Tate and have piled up obligations which ' , should-.make, sarie .men, pauge." History ... Tcpeated itself,...and,wo must be very care-. r fill or:'else in, tho near future we might V have a repetition of the. depression of I . twenty .years ago. ~ - . •In ..reply! to . Mr. Carroll's . southern utterances, Mr.. Massey said 'it was the duty of ■ the Government: to borrow up to i a certain limit awl spend the inanoy to ' the best advantage of ,tho whole Dominion. They were not doing this. It wAs a mistake for all moneys to bo borrowed through tho Government. Ho instanced the last. depression, when the Stato Treasury;: ran dry. • It would be better for New'Zealanders to invest in their own country than to send monoy abroad for investment, as they were compelled to do now. He repeated .'the statement that when tho money borrowed by* Government : does not return. 31 or. i .'per cent, they had to put 'their hand in the people's pockets to provide the. deficiency. The Small Man;., ■ The Government had not properly considered the-Death Duties Act.- It was not | intended to. affect the'small man, yet it did so." Last-year-the"'Gbvernmetit increased" the Customs duties, and that iriciease had only just. ceased. They had increased- railway fares, which was another way of taxing the people, and tho I greater part of tho increase'was on L Fecond-'claS3' fares. "Yet they-talk' of, ; placing the taxes on the backs of -those' best. ablo to pay. Tho income tax Is collected from a merchant who adjusts his profits and hands the tax ou to the consumers. The banks do not reduco their dividends, but pass tho tax on. It does not matter what section of the community they tax, it conies back on the 1 rank and-file."- No eountrjr-was mado to prosper by increased taxation. It was frenzied finance. Had not the time come when they should look round for some method of reducing taiation and easing the burden-of the people?:- /

, Against Secrecy. ' Ho protested against sec?ecy in re- i Sard to the cost of, raising loans, and < , said tho only information Parliament had ( got regarding: tho raising of the last five ~ millions was' that'the' cost was 1 pier ; ccnt. for five years! The' country had | not been' told how-much it cost to raiso j ' tte loans last session. .He (Mr. Massey) , moved, "That within twelve months of | tho floating of a loan, tho cost should be 1 on the table." The Government led | dts followers into tho "Noes." lobby, wad; the' motion was defeated. "This ss-how your Government deny the people Uio right ,to know what tho loans are ] costing." ' He hoped the people would send men to Parliament pledged to tell fhow loans were raised, • and how tho money was 6pent. He denied Sir James Carroll's state■lnent that the Opposition was injuring ■tho credit "of' the country. " It was the •Government that was doing this, not tho Opposition; They -were cursed with a .-Lad Government'. The Premier said recently, "If we stop borrowing for two years, half.tlio-people would bo insolvent aud two-thirds of the working men would. l>e out of work.". Is not . that a statement that would injure the credit of the country, if told in London?.-It,; was not tho Opposition side that was injuring the credit of the country. During the last £vo years the increased cost of administration was ■£2,578,136: ''Tenants, for. Ever," : Speaking on rho land question, "ho said' 1 that, in 1900, tho present. Administration found three 0.1!.1'., ami L.I.P. They knocked out the L.1.P., and gavo in, its place, tho renewable lease, i'lie renewable-lease 'man and his succestors wero tenants for ever.. It was a fair, thing for a country like this- that a juan should have the,option of making his 3and freehold-at the'-,very first opportunity. The optional system should also apply in the ease of men taking up largo blocks. Last session lie moved that leaseholders should bo allowed tho option to •""" purchase, and was beaten by 10, and next time he moved it he'hoped the majority •would bo oil his side. ■ Tho original value .-was the only thing that belonged to tho State. Why not allow settlers to pay off the capital value? It would be a good thing for the State for money to bo provided to buy othfr hinds for settling the country. Land Bills turned up_' every session. The last one provided for" ' compulsory leasing at a rental to be fixed by a. Count. Ones a principle of this nature was placed oil the Statute- Book, there was no telling where it would 'end. That measure was not going to pass into Id'ir. Ho mentioned it'to show them souie.iitiiig from the "powers that be," and the •(nly thing ho conld say nlpout them was that they didn't know- any better. There ' were far too many pcojilc in the towns ; and cities, and too few in tho country. ■ They were on dangerous ground now, aiid must open up the country. Every man going on to the land made a living for a man in tho city. Nativo Lands. . Speaking of the Nativo lands," ho 'said that on liis recent, journeying, near tho North Capo he had seen land just as the Creator left it. At Ivawhia, again, a place that one day would be a city, the district was strangled with Nativo land. The exodus of New. Zealanders was proceeding steadily, while millions of aores of Crown and Native lands were .lyingidle. The proper thing to do was to give the Native a chance of managing his own business. If the Natives were not able to settle their own land, the Government should make it available to Europeans. In reply to Sir -T. Carroll's criticism of his figures, Mr. Massey said they- were taken from a Blue Book, and he was ■■ prepared to stand by them, becauso they were taken from a Government source, ■which probably Sir James Corroll had never seen. lie would say to Sir James Carroll that if tho Native raco wero 'to bo sa-ved, it would be by the gospel of nork, not by tho gospel of taihoa. No man in Now Zealand had done so much harm as that same Sir J. Carroll. But for him all the Native, lands would be occupied by.'prosperous people, and the •Natives would become useful citizens.

They were,handicapped by the Native land'policy. Sir James Carroll had hnid that Mr. Massey knew nothing about Native lands, lie admitted that lie had not had any transactions in Native land, nor had he received a commission' l'or_ , tho salo of Native lauds. 'Neither had any of the Opposition party, but he could give the names of six Government men'who had done so. Acting-Premier Corrected. "'.'Sir James Carroll had..said that "G ■per cent, of tho public debt w'iis'intcrcfteariiing, but ho was'wrong.'' -t)nly K1 per cent, was returning interest, and the result was ah increase in taxation. Tho Acting-Premier had also said that Mr. Massey .had only introduced threo Bills in sixteen years", but powers in- this 'respect were usurped by tho Ministry, who w'efo the only ones "who could get the !j Governor's consent to introduce Bills, and his time was fully occupied in seeing that' tho Government went straight. When a Bill like the National Provident Fund Bill was introduced", 'the Opposition' helped to-place it Statute Book, but if it was a Bill they did not believe in they opposed it. The Government party had been raking his record for tho past seventeen years, but he had nothing to bo ashamed of. Ho had been accused of calling the Ministry hypocrites and -humbugs, but what ho had really said was that their policy was ono iof political humbug and liypoyisy, and :he - was prcpiircd .to static!, by, t it. Referring to tho '"Black" "p.ajnphlet, |Mr. Massey said tho attempt ito connect tho Opposition with- .it/ wns the most cowardly attack he had ever heard of, : and was hitting beloiv the belt; Indiscriminate Taxation. Dealing with , the taxation cf land, ho ;said the Act did not discriminate properly between the man who made good u«o ,ef his land and tho. man who did not, and somo exemption should bo made. Speaking on the Public Debt Extinction ;Act"of last session, he said other countries had tried this system, but ' the difficulty was that one Government could .not bind its successors. Ono party might make provision for a. .sinking fund, and another might collar it. Two sets of sinking, funds we're arranged last' year, but when 000 of debentures fell due, -instead of being paid off, the ■ debentures .were . renewed, and the sinking . funds were collared. A local body might borrow money outside the Dominion, but the Act compelled them to hand over the sinking fund to the Public Trustee. Tho Government had no right -to take this money, . ■ Powers of Ministers. Reform- was needed in the Legislative Council, as>in:the House-of Lords.- Theywanted an independent body-of men. Tho present system of appointments was perfectly ludicrous. ' The best method of re'i'crin -.was, by an elective syfitein on' proportional representation. Appointments .were now made as rewards for political 'services, and a man who bad money toiput into a newspaper to support tho Government was sure of a seat in the Council. Tho proper system of appointments to. tho public service was by -competitive examination, and as in other countries by an independent board. The. old system was retained to get political support and influence. He favoured a public service commission or board. Tho Ministry was continually stealing powers belonging to Parliament. He recently noticed that a clause in .the tariff had bssn enactcd by the Govorhor-in-Council, which should have been dofto_ by Parliament. One of the great principles of the British Constitution was that no taxation should be imposed without. tho consent of Parliament, 1 but this was not done in regard to tho -tariff clause.' Money voted by Parliament 'for a certain 'purpose"was often spent oil roads and bridges to catch votesNo salary fixed by Parliament should .be . increased' 'without going, before. .'.ho representatives of the- people. -Ho knew the people -of tho'Dominion were loyal and patriotic enough to: present a Dreadnought, but what, he objected to was the offer being made without the'sanction of -Parliament. A gold nugget was obtained on the "West Coast—tho "Hon. Roddy"— and it 'had been presented to the King ■V- thq.,-C'oToijivt,ion...biit no one knew anything, about' it till'it'was done.,-They would probably bo told.next.session,.when ifjWas too late'ito orieir tte question. Government Without a Policy. I The Government had no policv. A Land Bill was introduced in 1306, and dropped; another in the following year was also l abandoned. Sir Joseph Ward had told, tho people of America that tho .policy of the Government was to find out what people wanted, and give it them. The recently-repealed Gaming Act "was introduced by the Government, whose party voted for license ot" profcssional bookmakers and against tho reduction of'the .number of racing days.. Last year, with the exception of Sir. J. Carroll, they, voted for ' the abolition of the bookmakers and-a reduction in the number, of days of racing. .-..The same volte face Happened 'regarding the l Defence Bill-; the Licensing Bill, the Native Land Townships Bill, the. Knyvett affair, and the removal of Government House from Auckland. The' Government should lay its.policy,on the floor of tho House, and if Parliament did not approve of it, go out of- office.

Titles and Other Things. Regarding the recently-conferred titles, ho exempted Sir Joshua' Williams and Sir Arthur. Guinness 'from. his/'remarks, but as for members of; the..Lib,qral,party, they said years-ago-that tliey would never accept titles, but now-they'-rushed them. Tliey were welcome to' them; 'lis far as ho was concerned. The Hon. J. A. Millar had said the railways were paying higher rates (IV per .cent.) than ever; before, but this .was duo to tho increase in fares, and also to the early harvest in the South Island, where tho grain had .to be carried on tho railways. Mr. Millar also said .£50,010 would be spent on increasing the salaries of railway men. He did not object to this, but the same thing happened just prior to tho last election, "ilet tho election was hardly over when a number Of men; were dismissed. ■ Tho same tiling occurred six years ago, but'' was found to bo'illegal. 'Ho asked:' uas history going to repeat itself? He believed it was only a bribe. Regarding wages, the Opposition wore • slandered ...at election" times, and people were told that tho Opposition were a party ol; low wages, but this was wrong. The'ro were no more broad-minded men than those on the Opposition benches. The present industrial law did not discriminate between first and second-class men. ; There was not enough confidence in this country in the co-opcration of employer', and employee. He favoured the Victoria system of Wages Boards, consisting of two men appointed by the employers and two by tho employees. A Bill had lately been introduced by tho Imperial Government to provide for sickness. If this could bo done in conservative England, it could .be-done here, and ho would assist to .place such a. measure on the Statute Book. Mr. "Massey resumed his seat amidst loud and continued applause. A vote of thanks was carried by acclamation.