SPEECH BY MR. FISHER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1282, 10 November 1911, Page 6

SPEECH BY MR. FISHER.

A FIHST-RATE MEETING. INCISIVE CRITICISM OF TILE GOVERNMENT. A highly successful meeting was held in the Municipal Concert Chamber last night by Mr. I' 1 . M. li. Fisher, who is .seeking re-election for Wellington Central as a member of tho Reform parly. The hall was crowded, many nf those present being only iiblc to find landing room, and tho meeting throughout was thoroughly friendly to the candidate, whoso lively sallies and vigorous attacks upon the Government were warmly appreciated. Mr. C. B. Morif-on presided. Mr. Fisher spoke emphatically _of tho need for a chango of Ministry. Was there any member of tho present Ministry for whom a substitute could not l>o found? Some peoplo asked whether Mr. Massey was fit to be Prime Minister. They asked tho same question years ago concerning the late Mr. Seddon. A voico: No comparison. Mr. Fisher said Ihcro was a very good comparison between Mr. Seddon when he was nearly Premier and Mr. Massey now, when ho was nearly Prime Minister. The peoplo of Australia had found that tho only way to obtain stability of Government was by a constant destruction of Ministries, and they had had eight Ministries iu ten years. Wo should never havo good government here until we began the destruction of Ministries, and tho timo to begin was now, The Opposition had only one thing to offer, and that was better admin.'.itration than tbey were now getting. (Applause.)

Did What the King Could Not. After pointing to the increase of tho public debt, Mr. Fisher mentioned somo of tho items that had gone to swell itfirst, tho Dreadnought "gift. Tho Prime Minister, in giving the Dreadnought without consulting Parliament, had exercised a power which tho King of England could not exercise, and which the Primo Minister of England would not. When Mr. Deakin did it in Australia, he was promptly relegated to the political scrap-heap. (A voice: Quito right.) The only people whom the Prime Minister consulted about tho Dreadnought offer wore the newspaper editors, and they were told by him that lie was in possession of secret information, regarding a gravo crisis of such a nature that he dared not divulge it. Mr. Hogg, who was a member of the Ministry when the gift was made, had said that the Prime Minister had deceived not only the peoplo of tho country but even the members of his own Cabinet. And that was actually the case. Tho real origin of tho Dreadnought offer was a desire tc get ahead of Australia and Canada, a suggestion having appeared in the press that those countries should present a Dreadnought to the Imperial Government. Shortly after the offer reached England, a motion of want of confidence in tho Imperial Government on tho ground tliat adequate provision had not been mado for uaval supremacy was defeated by 130 votes, showing that the British Parliament had perfect confidence in tho naval arrangements of the Imperial Government. He (Mr. Fishor) was a strong Imperialist, but he considered that we never ought to havo been saddled with those two millions. If tho Primo Minister was returned to power he would deem that his action had been ratified by the people, and perhaps next time ho thought there , was an Imperial crisis he would give two Dreadnoughts.

Irresponsible Finance. "Thcro was an Imperial Conference in London, which we were not allowed to discuss beforehand," continued Mr. Fisher, "and more especially we were not allowed to discuss it attcrwards." (Laughter.) Our Primo Minister tried to persuade that conference to go in for an expenditure of fifty millions in order to build 25 Dreadnoughts right off the reel, but the other Primo Ministers poured buckets of cold water on him. (Laughter and applause.) Wo should have been saddled with,,a share of those fifty millions, without Parliament being consulted, if those Liberal Premiers had not had too much common sense to bo led away by our irresponsible | financial fanatic. And if the Prime Minister was roturned to power at this election he would consider that the country had ratified that proposal. When a proposal to erect a key station for wireless telegraphy at Singapore was made by tho British Postmaster-General at tho conference, Sir Joseph Ward immediately said it was a very good idea, and if Australia would pay half tho cost, Now Zealand vrould Ire very pleased to pay tho other half. Mr. Fisher also said that lie thought tho key station was a good idea, but ho oould not commit his Government without consulting Parliament. The "Hon. Roddy" Nugget. Notwithstanding tho retrenchment scheme of two years ago, the public Departments had gone on growing and their cost had increased. Owing to this and other causes taxation tiad been made heavier, and had helped to increase the rents, which were such a burden to the people ot this city. Tho Ministers wanted to give King yeorge a paper-weight or something, so they bought the "Koddv" nugget, mounted it, and sent it Home, so that the Minister whose courteous manners had been so charmingly displayed when ho received tho tramways conference in this city should bo commemorated in the Royal apartments. That gift cost the country altogether ,£BGS, and the Government that spent that money would declare that it was unablo to raise the wages of people who were no.t getting a living wage. The Government sent a thousand pounds to Canada to help buy a battle-ground, and dispatched an ex-Governor to deliver the cheque. Yet there was not so much as a two-and-sixpenny finger-post to enable a person to find the important Gate Pa battle-ground in this country. Tho Governmeut had also sent a contribution to a memorial in Nova Scotia. Sir Joseph Ward, when at Home, invited Queen Alexandra to visit Now Zealand as the guest of tho country. There was no Britisher who had not the deepest love and reverenco for tho Queen M.oher—(applause)— but was it right for an individual to go Homo and invito a lioyal visitor on his own responsibility, while the country would havo to pay tho cost? ("No, no.") The expenditure on Government House at Auckland, the Hutt Road and railway, the viaducts on the Main Trunk line, and the Dunedin railway station was also criticised •iy Mr. Fi«her. Ho Temarkcd concerning the last-named work that Sir Joseph Ward stated at Dunedin that it cost ,£120,000, and at another place ho gave the cost at .£60,000. Apparently he wanted to appear generous in one place, aud prudent in another. It wjs about timo someone was put in power to tell tho people what some of these works had realty cost.

Labour Under "Liberalism." The Arbitration Court had failed, because it needed to have at its head a man of common sense and understanding —not a judge, but one who really know the conditions under which the peoplo were living. There were females working in Auckland 110 hours a week—after twenty years of so-called "Liberalism." Tho Arbitration Court had failed to secure a fair wage for all workers, and he favoured instead the wages board system of Australia. Tliero were employees in tho Public Service who were being paid wages that would be a disgrace to the most Tory, capitalist, antiquated Conservative Government that ever existed on the face of the earth. 110 instanced the mental hospital attendants, nc had always mado it his work in Parliament not to look after people who had .rights, but people who had wrongs. (Applause.)

Things Said at Winton, The Prime Minister had said at Winton that Opposition members claimed credit for measures which they had opposed. The Government themselves did that. His own Bill to extend the municipal franchiso was defeated at the instance of the lion. T. IC. Macdouald, and next year the Government took up the idea and passed it into law. If one had any ideas, it was not safe to leave thorn lying about whore Ministers might notice them. The Prime Minister in his 'Winton speech stated that 103,150 acres of Crown lands had been settled during the last financial year, but he omitted to state the areas surrendered and forfeited. When those, as shown in the Lands Report, wore subtracted, it would be seen that the net settlement was only 75,000 acres. Tho Iron Industry. If the Primo Minister objected—and rifilitly—to vrivately-owued railways, why

did ho propose lo band over to a private I nomjmny the iron mid &toel industry, with | ils enormous possibilities, and also to givo Iho company a bonus nf .£00,000? 110 (Mr. Fisher) hud had valuable, information on the subject, and ho called a meeting of progressive members of both sides of tho House, and they quietly intimated that if the liill were gone on with there would bo no chance of tho session ending l»foro Christmas. Tho Bill, therefore, was dropped. In conclusion, Mr. Fisher promised to put forward constructive proposals in bis fuluro addresses. (Much applause.) -Mr. A. .1. White moved, and Mr. Lenaury seconded, a vote of thanks and confidence, with an assurance that the meeting would do all in ils power to secure Mr. Fisher's return. This was carried by acclamation, followed by cheers.