POLITICS AND PARTIES IN NEW ZEALAND. THE ELECTIONS OF 1399. THE WARD PREMIERSHIP.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1301, 2 December 1911, Page 13

POLITICS AND PARTIES IN NEW ZEALAND.

THE ELECTIONS OF 1399.

THE WARD PREMIERSHIP.

PUBLIC WORKS POLICY.

In the fifty-seven years that have elapsed, since representative government began in New Zealand 'many great changes have taken place. The'seventeenth Parliament has now expired by the effluxion 'of time, and the eighteenth has in a few days to be chosen by, the people. Twenty-eight Ministries have seen their, day, and the twenty-ninth stands trying to read the writing on the wall,. It is. a,good time to pause and take.stock, and ask ourselves where our-politics have brought as,. and where they are taking us. Even the briefest glance at the past will show, for instance, how fallacious is the idea that progress was unknown in, Js'ew Zcaland until the days of the Seddon and Ward autocracies;

fnpJHE political history of New Zea- | I land falls naturally into three Jl I divisions. ■ There is first of all the period from the granting of representative Government in 1851 to •jMiding;'#, - .witrf, fai 1870. - i'hose.. Were >.tho r stqnny -tcCtiiing. days ■ in politics, and during the sixteen years no feT.er than ten different Administrations irero in office. .Tho Constitution Act prorid'ad- for a Goneral Assembly having su-' prorne control, and Bis subordinate .elective Provincial Councils, presided over by an elective Superintendent. Except on certain subjects, tho Provincial Councils could make laws for. tho peace, order, and good government of their respective pro-, vinces. Any laws which they made were, however, liable to ho oror-ridden or modified by .Acts ■of the Colonial Parliament, with which they were inconsistent. Governor Grey, in. introducing the Constitution, took a curious step, which many of his critics asserted led to tho ultimate rain of the provincial system. He established tho Provinoial Legislatures first, ind then, after they had been busy for a year in mopping up all sources of revenue and ■ authority into their own hands, he called the Colonial Parliament into being. This meaDt that the bulk of the Acts of the Colonial Parliament camo into conflict with some prior provincial Act somewhere, and much strife and discord not unnaturally resulted between the provinces and the General Government, Fox, Stafford, and Whitaker were tho political, leaders during these troublous days, and from May, when responsiblo Government was first in effective operation, until April, 1873, either one or other was in control, Fox having four Premiership*, and-Stafford three. Fox led : the peaco party, While Stafford thought that a lasting pcace could only be secured after a successful war The Maori .-'War. cost the colonists some 51)0. live?, and the Maoris probably threq times that, number, and imposed a burden on the Colonial Treasury of between three and four millions sterling, 'of. which 2-} millions still, forms'part;of the Public Debt. Free-trade in Land. The discussion of Native affairs and the relations of tho Central Government to fto provinces formed tho main business of Parliament during tho first twenty yearn of its existence. The land qnesfcion, however, was-also .well to tho fore, and it is a notable indication of the strength of the provinces, that, despite the clause in the Constitution forbidding it, they «ecurecl tho control of tho lands,in ISSI, and administered them and nsed tho land revenue much as they pleased until 187 G. Unrestricted sales of land were permitted in many parts of tho country, and the door was opened to an era of land speculation that rose to its height in tho seventies. The war had a disastrous effect nn tho progress of the North Tsland during this period, but the gold discoveries in the Smith K-ilnncod the beam,- and brought a (rent inrush of new settlers. From 1851 to 1870 the European population of >Tc.v Zealand increased from 3J.551 to 218,109, the fital overseas trade from n little over JMO.O.'KI to almost .£9.501,00(1. c-r more than tenfold. 'The public indebtedness in the s.ime h'mo rose from practically nil to «?,84t,8!>1. Nowadays we hear a front deal abont progressive lejrislntion in the interest* of the masses, and all that sort of f-hinpr, and the Ward Adminisfrnf-'oi and its followers especially, are always talking as though the era of pTojrrcs? only began with tho advent of the present .Continuous Ministry. The history of tho past tells a very dilferent story. The political achievements of the period 1851' to! 1870 include: The Land Transfer Act of 18CD. legislation regulating tho : municipal franchise, and giving power for the construction, purchase, and operation by the municipalities of markets, F,vr.rv.nr!<«. lighting plants, and other public utilities. j . TH~ miftHMENT OF THE POST ornCE IN 1858. TV' riy'tfirnfitic rumstructKm of » tefo«ystpm from 1665. Use oiyr.'i'tig «f Post Office Swings Banks in ItfJi,

The opening for traffic of tho first railway (Lyttelton-Christchurch) in IBG3, followed shortly afterwards by the opening of the Dunodin-Port Chalmers line and, a line in Auckland. , (^nterbnry^qrftgj tho road arross'the.--Alpe.torflokitikaj 119 miles long, at a'cost of .£150,000, and ran a coach service twice a week cach way, taking two days on-the journey. -

VOGEL BOOM BEGINS. IMMIGRANTS POUR IN. Wo have now reached the second period in tho political deyelopment of New Zealand. Tho Maori wat has ended, and for the first time, the General Government is beginning to take up its proper position, and look to the development of tho country on an adequato scale.. Apart from the activity on the goldfields, industry was languishing in 1870, and there was a more or les3 general stagnation throughout tho country. • Settlors weio needed, and there was also noeded a proper system of communications. The hour had arrived, and with it came the man, iiVthe shape'of. a sanguine, kindly mining engineer,'bubbling over with energy and ideas. This now star in the political firmament, Mr. Julius Vogel, afterwards Sir Julius, was a comparatively recent arrival from London, via Victoria, but he had been for five years a'member oi the House of .Representatives. when he was given a portfolio in' the Fox Ministry of 18G9. '

Vogel proposed . that the Government should raise a loan of ten millions, and ispend it over a eourso of years in systematic immigration, in the construction of a main trunk railway throughout the length of cach island, in the employment of immigrants on the railway work and in their ultimate settlement within largo blocks of land-reserved near the lines of railway, in the construction of main roads, in the purchase, of Native lands in the .North Island, in th° supply of waterpower on goldfields, and in the extension of the telegraph bystem.

Door Opaned to Spsculatlon. Tho plan was adopted, in its main features, but one most unfortunate alteration was mado in it. ' It had been proposed to reserve largo tracts of Crown land# through which the railways wero to bo made, .with a view to the use of the land for' settlement, and in order to recoup to tho colony ,o great part of tho railway expenditure by means of a betterment tax. The provinces having been permitted to acquire tho control of the Crown lands were strongly opposed to this proposed re-sen-ation for tho benefit of the General Government, and as it was feared that provincial opposition would kill • tho scheme, the land reservations were abandoned. The result was that the Provincial Governments sold tho land and used the proceeds for their own purposes; and speculative capitalists in many cases made • profits which should have gone to aid, the State in the further financing of its railway projects.

The great Vogol boom wm how' under way, and the colony began to go ahead at an unprecedented pace. In ten years from 1871 to 1881 the .population was almost doubled, some 1300 miles of railway were opened for traffic, and somo 20 millions was pi tad on to the public dobt. The public works policy waa not carried out without great waste. Mr. Vogel himself appears to have oommitted the colony to hugo railway contracts at prices sometimes 20 per cent, over the engineers' estimate!. Tho prices of wool and wheat happened about this time to rise considerably, . and speculation began to grow hot. Land was being bought and sold on a rising market, and largely with money borrowed at high rates of interest. In 1879 the prices of wheat and wool fell, and the output from tho diggings also slackened off. With tho first pinch the borrowers heron to find difficulty in kcopinj their bargains. Nearly all those who had bought much land with borrowed moiwy wont down, end it in stated that in nome district* three-fourth* of the lotvicnrnerci end brarinow men were more or tew ruined. Son* foil ijuickly . and otttcon ftmtslad ss, to (p antar J%

Contrast the position of the Continuous Ministry to-day with that which It held In popular esteem in 1893. Then, Mr. Seddon was the idol of the masses, carried, as It were, shoulder high into by his cheering mates. The Ministry was in touch with the people; it had definite aims, fixed principles, and a sturdy, democratic sentiment permeated all its actions. Gradually it deteriorated. Autocratic methods crept in ; the long years of office brought degeneration. To-day the democratic sentiment of the country is flouted with hereditary titles and flunkeyism, and the public are kept at arm's length until election day comes round.

period of low pricee that continued throughout the world until 1891. The Provinces Go. Vogel soon found that more revenue would be needed t. pay the interest on the public debt he was piling up. The iunil boom turn. groauy increased the provincial - land revenues, and the Government speedily decided to abolish the provinces and divert this money into its own coffers. The fight that followed the first mooting of. this proposal brought two now leaders to.the front in Parliament. Major Atkinson, afterwards Sir Harry, camo forward as the'-champion of tho Centralists, and Sir George Grev emerged iroru his retirement at Kawau to dc tattle for the Provincial cause. It was a hard fight, and, as everybody knows, ended in 1875 with the passing of the Abolition of the Provinces Act. In the following year the management of local affairs was handed'over to some, hundreds of county councils, road boiards, and borough' councils. This, system of local government, though long ago admitted to be quate, still stands, despite the. annual promises of-Ministers to reform it.

was a very different one from that taken by Sir Joseph Ward in 1909. It was Hi c-ut down immediately tho salaries of Ministers and members, and to reduce the number of members of the House fiam 95 to 71. The broad result of his efforts was the ending for good and all of financial deficits. This so-called Conservative Ministry in its day entered into the first naval agreement with Great Britain by which the old Australian squadron was established. It also carried adult manhood suffrngo, and enforced the principle of one man one vote.

It was under this Ministry also that the second great step in land legislation— tho limitation of area—was taken by the Act of ISB7. Under it no one could purchase or secure from the public lands in any one land district under freehold, deferred payment, or perpetual lease, moro than 010 acres of first-class land or 2000 acres of seooiid-class land.

Tho Railway Commission. Tho Atkinson Ministry made an interesting innovation, by handing tho railways over to a board of non-political commissioners appointed for a term of Svo years. The commissioners actually held office from January, 18S9, to December, 1891, when their term expired, and tho Seddon Ministry onco mure brought the system under political control. In their book on "'State Socialism in New Zealand" (1910) Professor Le ITossignol and Mr. W. D. Stewart say of tho Commission: "It is the common belief to this day, quite contrary to fact tluit their administration was an egregious failure." "In reality its administration compares very favourably with that which preceded it and tho country gained tittle or nothing by reverting to : political control."

[ In'lß77'.the tide turned for a while, and .'Sir George Grey came into office on a narrow majority. Although tho new Premier preached economy, yet when he handed over t'he Terns two ypars later the public debt had increased by five millions. The principal achievements of the Grey Ministry were tho passing of the Education Act of 1877, providing for free and compulsory: education, and the imposition of a land tax. Changed Fortunes, To the Hall-Atkinson Ministry of 18S0 fell the unploasaut task of meeting tho change in tho,colony's fortunes. As a first stop a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into'the condition of tho Civil Service. Its chairman, Air. Alfred Saunders, said of it in his "History of New Zealand": "After three months of unpleasant work the Commissioners had discovered an incredible amount of carelessness, neglect, of wanton waste, of useless expenditure, of wilfully blind inspection, of criminal appointment":, of systematic fraud, and of successful and long-continued robbery which could only have been perpetrated under tho connivance ot men who wero highly paid to protect, the public interest."

The writers also point out that wero tho railway accounts kept on business lines as in the days of the commissioners the deficit for the year 1509 would be shown ns ,£2G2,7G0. "This," they add, "is just alwnt tho same as the deficits during tho administration of the Commissioners, but if interest were reckoned at tho rate prevailing in their time, tho deficit would be much greater."

The Ministry courageously tackled tho disagreeable and unpopular task before them. They proposed to the House that all Civil -Service salaries of over £COO should bo reduced by 20 per cent., all over .£309 by 15 per cent., and all over .£IBO by 10 per cent.; that "Hansard" and tho Agent-General should be abolished as unnecessary luxuries. An amendment by Mr. .Saunders was carried reducing tho salaries of all Civil Servants by 10 , per cent. This is stated to have, effected an annual saving of .£IOO,OOO, and the suppression of the fraudulent practices disclosed by tho Civil Servico Commission's report prevented the loss of another .£30,000. Tho revenue was also increased by a property tax of a penny in tho pound. Progressive Legislation. In 1881 a. number of progressiva measures were carried into law, and among them one may note tho Licensing Act, providing for elective licensing committee", with power to refuse to renew licenses on the ground that they wero not required. Tha Act also forbade tho granting of new licenses until after tho taking of a referendum in tho licensing district. Death duties and an inheritance tax wore imposed. A Chineso Exclusion Act wa3 passed, and the factory age for children was raised to twelvo years

Wo have now arrived at tho year 1890 and the end of tho second period in our review. In the twenty years that hud elapsed since Vogel brought in his public works policy the population of the colony, despite an exodus during the depression that followed the boom, had risen from under a quarter of a million— 218,100 to be exact—to G25,558. The total overseas trade had gone up from 0$ millions to 10 millions; tho number of occupied holdings of land had run np from 10,211 to 38,083; and, finally, the public debt had jumped from .£7,811,891 io X 35,830,350. The principal item in tho

In 1682 Mr. Rolleston, Minister for Lands in the Whitaker Government, introduced his famous Land Bill by which fit proposed to institute a system of perpetual leases as regarded one-third of the Crown lands. The rente wero to bo 5 per cent on the unimproved value of the land, with revaluation after thirty years, and later revaluations after periods of twenty-one years, and were to be applied for educational and other purposes.

The Legislative Council insisted ' en giving the tenanti under the leases the right of purchase, and in that form tho measure passed.

In 1891 Sir Julius Vogol, who had teen abse'r.t abroad, returned to New Zealand, and joining forces with his erstwhile adversary, Sir Robert Stont, formed the Sfcout-Vogel Ministry, which expired after an, uneventful existence of three years, with Mr. liallance's villago settlement scheme as the main piece of legislation to its credit. Sir Julius Vogei carried on Ilia old policy of public works, but not with the 6ame daring or cxtrsrajonro. Th« Deficits Ende4. After, tha oolkpso of Um Start-Vsgd Ministry the colony waa in a bad nay, and Sir Harry Atkinson when he ratnnwd to power ma fao»d with flw o»pkasaot newmnty of etrinos. by eras* suaoa la Bafe» mull met Hhfirstroma

■=> ==; A TRANSFORMATION.

assets ugaiiurt this expenditure was tho 1812 miles cf railway open fiir trafßc. Achievements of the Period, ITie achievements of the period inaj bo summed up as follow, tho date and the iKiiue of tho Premier in oflioo being inserted in each ease.— Public Works policy inaugurated (Fox) 1870. Government Life Insurance Department established (Fox) IS7O. Ballot Act passed establishing eecrecy of voting (For) 1870. Land Transfer. Bystem improved (Fox) 1870. " ' San Francisco Berries oommenced (Fox) 1870. New Zealand University established (Fox) 1870. Public Trust Office established (Waterhouse) 1872. Tramways Act, (jiving municipalities power-to operate tramway, systems passed (Wctcrboose) 1873. Factory Act, establishing eight-hour day for rrornen and girls, Saturday halfholiday, etc. (Vos'fll), 1873. Imprisonment for debt abolished (Ycgul) !S7'l. Abolition of the Provinces Act* (Vogol) 1875. County Council system established (Atkinson) IS7G. Education Act, providing for' freo and compulsory education (Grev), 1877. Land Act, establishing land boards and providing for tho sale of Crown lands on deferred payments (Grey), 1877. Land Tax Act (Grey) 1878. Triennial Parliament Act (Hall) 1879. Residential Suffrage Act: every male resident of 21 to vote (Hall), 1879. Inheritance Taxes. Deceased Persons' Estates Duties Act (ila'l) 1881. Factory ago raised to 12 years (Hall) ISBI. Licensing Act, giving elcctivc committees and local option as to new licenses (Hall), 1881." Asiatic Exclusion Act (Hall) 1881. Employers' Liability Act (Whitakor) 1882. Perpetual Lease system established (Whitakor) 1882. State Forests Act (Stout) 18S5. Village Settlements Act (Stout) 1885.'■ First Offenders' Probation Act (Stout) ISSS. Optional system of land tenure with limitation of area (Atkinson) 1837. One-man-one-vote principle established (Atkinson) 1889. Railway Commissioners appointed (Atkinson) 1880. .

MR. BALLANCE IN POWER. I THE SEDDON AUTOCRACT. The long depression that followed the Vogel boom naturally caused much discontent throughout the country, »nd this was greatly intensified by the dislocation of business by the great maritime strike of IS9O. The men were beaten'in their fight with tha Union Company, and wore resolved to make their weight felt at the polls under the grant of manhood suffrage. The result was the appearancc in office in January, 181)1, of the Ballanc* Ministry with a solid following in the House. Biillance was pledged to a eelf-roliant financial policy, and during liis tiro years of office tho public debt increased by only Fflirn .£427,000. He set to work with a will, and had a number of industrial Bills passed, including a Truck Act, a Factories Act, an extension of the Employers' Liability Act, and a Contractors' and Workmen's Lien Act. In 1892 there came the famous M'Kenzie Land Act, with its provision of th'o amazing lease-in-perpotuity at 4 per cent, with no re valuation—the worst tenure for the State ever yet devised in Now Zealand. The Land for Settlement Act wm passed in its original form without power for the compulsory taking of estates, and there also camo the Land and Income Tax Act.

Seddon succeeded Ballance in 1893, and that year saw the passing of tho Female Franchise Act, the Local Option Act., and tho beginning of tho banking legislation. In 1894 camo tho Industrial and Conciliation and Arbitration Act, the Advances to Settlers Act, the granting of powers for the compulsory purchase of land for ssltlemenfcs, and.tho Shops and Shop Assistants Act. Tho programme of legislation was energetically continued in the two following years, in the first of which the Government hurried through its Banking Act to save tha Bank of New Zealand from instant collapse. The Imperialistic Nota. In 1896, with the departure of Mr. Reeves for London, came the first noticeable falling off in the original democratic vigour of the party, and in the following year Mr. Seddon's visit to the Diamond Jubilee left him with an unquenchable ambition to shine as au Imperialist. The year 1898 saw the passing of the Old Ago Pension Act, and in 1593 came the dispatch of tho First

Contingent to take part in (lie Boer War. It was about this tiiue'that Mr." Seddon. began to declare that the time had coins for a rest, and that no more experimental legislation wo> needed for a whilo. The succeeding. years nair the gradual fading out of the earlier democratic ideas, and the steady ascendancy of Mr. Scddon'a personal power. Aa tho original mombeni of the Cabinet dibd or retired thoir places were. filled with dummies. The condition of the country at the tim« of Mr. Seddon's death ivas well summed up by. a contemporary in a leading article of July 7, 1S0I3: "Tha decay of all other political institutions," it wrote, "is tho price wo have had to pay for the wonderful ascendancy of Mr. Heddon. . . Tho Cabinet was never weaker. . . . The Legislative Council was never weaker. . . . Tho Hous-e of Representatives was never weaker. Meekly it has allowed itsoif to be stripped of ; privilege after privilege. . . . Tho Civil Sen-ice was nevei wtaiwr. Tho protection which was provided for it by previous Ministers of opposite colours has been removed inch by inch. . . . The general public morality was never weaker, whole districts have bee a bought by a judicious administration of the Public Works Fund, which Kids them to believe that thoir wants will not bo attendod to unless they vote for a Government candidate; and throughout the wholo community—whether it is a country settler who wants' a road, a ne'er-do-well a billot, a merchant a contract, or a lawyer a brief—the notion lias been impressed upon every class that public- office is not a trust to bo administered with strictness and detachment, but the perquisite of the ruling party to he farmed as such among favoured applicants in return for value received in the shape of political service."

The population of New Zealand during the period from 1690 to IJIOG increased from 625,508 to !"►:!,799, or at the rata of 51.91 per cent. Tho total overseas trade, inwards and outwards, practically doubled, rising from X1G,072,245 to .£33,306,540. Tho public debt at tho same time increased from .£38,830,350 to ■£84,179,040.

Record of Legitlation. The legislation of th« Bttllanee-Ssddon period com prised the following among it 3 more important measures:— Employers Liability Amendment Act (BaUance), 1891. Track Act (Ballance), 1831. Factories Act (BaUance), 1891. Oontractors' and Workmen's Lien Act, (Ballancc), 1892. Land and Inoome Tax , Act (Balance), 1892. Land Act, tpfaubKshhtg . leafo-m-per-petaity (BaUance), 1832... Woman Suffrage (Beddon), 1853, Bunking Acts (Seddon), 1593. Local Option Act (Seddon), 1893. Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act (Seddon), ISM. Advance# to Settler* Act (Seddon), 1894. Land for SettJemtoti Act (Seddon), .1891. Shop Act (Seddon), 18M. Bank of He* Zealand' Act (Seddon), 1895. SOTTanta* Rejiutry 06w» Act (Seddon), 1855. Family' Homes Prottctioa Act (Seddou), ISSS. Valnatioa «f Land Act (Seddoa), H9&, Uoracfpal FramAVa Act (Seddon), 1698. ~V. 014 Ap» Penskma Act (Seddon), 189?. Immigration ReatrictioM Act (Seddon), 1900. Pnblie Health Aet (Seddon), 1904. tlniTer»al Pansy Pout (Beddon), IWI. Bt«t« Cool Mines A<* (Seddon), IMI. Stat* Fir* btrarsse* k<A (Seddon), im PwfereofcW TatS hH (SoMca), Cs33. 03d If* SVraßtta itawri ta JH3 (EWSS&esJ, 883. tta&em Js<isjsSt£39 Asi . JSV ■

PUBLIC CONFIDENCE WEAKENS. HECOItD OF THE PAST FIVE YEAES. At tho time of Mr. Seddon's death Sit Joseph. Ward, the only feasible Premier in the party, was abroad at the Postal Conference, and Sir William Hall-Jones— the least weak of Mr. Seddon's Cabinet of dummies—held tho fort until his rctura. After a general clearance of tho old Ministry Sir Joseph Ward settled down to his first session. The Budget ,of 1906, with its scheme of land legislation,' cama as a great surprise to the public. However, tho scheme proved iH-digested—even tho well-tamed Government following demurred at swallowing it—ami down cam# tho Government colours even moro hurriedly than they had been run up, 1 ■ The following. year Kir Joseph Word took nnother of his periodical trips to Loudon to attend tho Imperial Conference. On his return tame much modified portions of the Jl'Nab land proposal* of tho previous year were put through. Tho year 1!)0S was marked by a nuns bcr of strikes which put the Arbitration Act to its first real strain. At tho end of tho year tho general elections took place, and tho public, by reducing th« Govornmont following by 6omo nine members, and rofusing to return tho Minister for Lands, clearly expressed its disapproval of the erratic and wobbly oours* of "Liberalism" in its latest guise.

In 1909 tho wave of .depression swept over New Zealand, and Sir Joseph Ward was compelled to curtail his inflated expenditure. In order to revive his zoning popularity, he thon made his Dreadnought offer. New blood was introduced into tho Cabinet early. in the year in the shape of Messrs, Roderick M'Kenzift, Hogg, T. Mackenzie, Buddo, and Ngeta. Tho year 1909 also saw the adjournment of Parliament for some months, as Sir Joseph Ward refused to allow the ordinary business of tho year to proceed while lie was away on another of his visits to

London. Last year Parliament put through the : Defence Bill, as the cliief work of tho • session... This year Sir Joseph Ward again wuriiied himself in the sun of Imperialism, returning home to New sica. land tho possessor of a hereditary titlo. During (he five years of the AVard Ad■muiistratiou the population has increased by i per cent., the total, trade by 25. per cent., and tho public debt, by 30 per cent. ' - , Tho average annual rale of increase in tho gross public debt during tho four TreasureshipS under the Continuous Ministry makes instructive reading. Each return to Sir Joseph Ward, as Treisurer, has meant n great plunge away from th« old BaUance ideal Of self-reliance Inc. per annuni in National Debt. £ BaUance sa Treasurer (IS9I-3) ... 213,745 Ward as Treasurer (1593-G) 1,261,313 Seddon as Treasurer (1596-15G6)... 1,704,090 Ward as Treasurer and Premier (1908-11) 3,777,418 The principal achievements of the Ward Government during its live year* are as follow:— Adrances to Workers Act, 1908. Tariff Act, 1907. Laud tax increased, 1907. Gaming Act, 1907. Renewable lease established, 1907. Naval subsidy increased to .£100,003, 1908. .; u.-.:-Seoond Ballot Act, 1906...ffifyS;"::- *: '■ Conciliation Councils established, foOJ Manewatu Railway purchased,'l9oß, Dreadnought offer, 1909. Land Settlement Finance Act, 1909, Defenee Act, 1910. ' , . Licensing Act, 1910. Publio Debt Extinction Act, IM# National annuities, 1910. ; Commercial Trusts Aet, 1910. WMrw*' Pension* Act, 1911. Mantal. Defedrrw Act. lttl., Workers' Compensation txtoosfoa 1911. Eacntttoy Ut Sir JoaepVWcrd, Mil.