THE GREY SEAT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1791, 2 July 1913, Page 7

THE GREY SEAT.

POLICY SPEECH BY MR. MICHEL SPLENDIDLY RECEIVED, REFORM AIMS & ACHIEVEMENTS. (By Telegraph.—Special OorrespondcntJ' Greymouth, July 1. \ Jlr. H, L. Michel, tlio Government caiiA didato for tho Grey seat, addressed a largo and enthusiastic meeting in tho Opertv' House this evening. Tho building waS densely packed, and numbers were unable to gain admission. Tho Mayor of Grey« mouth presided. 1 Oil rising to ispenk, Mr. Michel was ro, ceived with prolonged applaueo and cheer- 1 ing. Ho pointed out that ho was fight-j ing his opponents politically, not person-' ally, and ho impressed upon his support-' ers tho importance of not doing' anything that would sover tho cords of friendship* Ho stood as a supporter of honest admins istration, and straight-out for tho Reform! Government, which lie bolioved to be a! truly Liberal Government. (Applause.)j Ho quoted the late Sir Arthur Guinness,: who, speaking at Greymouth, and report-; cd in tho "Grey Star" on May 16, 1>13,1 said; "Some peoplo had regarded tho change in the Government as something akin to disaster, but ho did not consider it in that light. If the reform lay iu the direction of rectifying tho mistakes (and at a member of tho Liberal party, ho accepted his share of responsibility in the mistakes which (lie' Liberal Govern*, incut made), then tlio present Adininistrn-; tion would do good." Tho action of tlio present Government would not be characterised by a policy of loaves ami' fishes, or in other words, "spoils to the victors.''! As a matter of fact, the Government had; 1 ■improved Liberal measures already, on, the Statuto Book. Jlr. Michel explained! that tlip Reform party had agreed ts; leave the Grey electorate as neutral! ground whilst it was represented by the; Speaker, but now tho vacancy had occurred, Jlr. Michel said ho was determined to fight tho fight clean and honourably to the very last ounce.. Finance. Tho speaker dealt with the rccont loan flotations, and trenchantly denounced tho pernicious system of raising loans on short-dated debentures. -Ho mentioned tho fact that tho first Budget brought down by the Reform Government lina received hardly any criticism fi'oiii the Opposition, - while Sir. Joseph- Ward . had , maintained a.&igliificaJit'si.lence, Ho'know,that soiuo of tlio Opposition, had charged tho Reform Government with having "stolen their clothes," and thus, to Ins mind, was an-admission-that-the-Upposir tion was now politically naked. Ho' recognised that borrowing must continuo -within reasonable limits, and advocated a forward and progressive polioy of development. He. . denounced tlio construction of costly and palatial building, and advocatwl the- opening up of tho land, and the building offloads 'and bridges; explaining- that tho.-recent Government had handed to its succcssors a burden of.hoavy commitments in connection with public buildings, and tlvcso had had to lie finished. • Ail tho money nossiblo should bo made available 101 advances to settlers and workers; and the opening of the land. Land Question. " He advociited the optional system ollaud tenure;" Ho said that the graduated , land, tax had had, the effect of bringing .£BI,OOO into tho treasury in eleven months, and al9o had compelled tho cutting up of a nurnbor of estates. Ho asked how it was,, after twenty-one years of Liberalism, that there were any big estates in existence. The Liberal party had not done their duty, or there would be 110 big estates ill tho country Unia}. He advocated a vigorous land settlement . P °Mr!'Michel then dealt with tho Native ; land question, and the special Maori representation in Parliament, stating that the three thousand peoplo who voted for himrnt the Inst election had no representation iu Parliament while there was a Maori representative in' tho House who was sent there by.three hundred people, and who' had the Bame voice in the ailaira of tho country as the Prime(Minister. Jlr. Michel next dealt fully with- the development of tho West Coast He said that the Advances to Settlers OiEco lind,. advanced X 13,572,355, and the share of tiuo whole of the West Coast had been .£2OO 000. Under the Advances to Workers' branch, the Stato had advanced a total of ,£2,070,805, and, of this tho whole of the West Coast (winch is populated vith working people) had-only received m5lO. • Tako .tho year ended 1912: The sum of .£397.175 was granted under the Advances to Workers Act, and of this huge sum tho whole of W estland got only XIGSO. While the country had spent nearly seven millions in tlio purchase of land for closer settlement, not one penny had been spent on the West Coast. ' , , Cost of Living and Dofcncc. Discussing the-cost, of living, Mr, Michel stated that lie would try to do something-, iu- the direction of S°"ing amendments to tho Customs tariff, as the people paid a largo sum of money annuallv through tho Customs, winch eventually came out of the pockets of tho consumers. In regard to defence, Jtr. Michel said that ho Iniew that ho was on do- . bataUo ground. Ho had faced tlio inusio at Blackball and Runanga, and his declaration that lie would Vrjivc it to..them straight from tho'shoulder —that lie was in favour of the defence schorao-inel; . with loud applause. 1 hero might be amendments to the Act necessary, howevev, ana tho cost should lie kept within bounds; They should also guard against the setting-up,.of a military.class, but he heartily appnved of tlio principle of the-Defence Act. ; th«^. Government for passihg the Xfilitarj .Pensions Act and was glad to know that the Government intended bringing down amendments so as to provide pensions tor women of sixty years of age. Ho claimed that he had always been sympathetic with labour and his long record on public bodies would prove that . ho ■ had always supported the generous treatment of the .workers, the Masses. Government was out to help the genuine worker as-against the spurious worker. Ho favoured' proportional representation and suggested several improvements Hn the present electoral system, . He said the Government had shown its sympathy with the West, Coast in many ways, notably in connection with the Otjra tunnel, and.despite.tho'opposition of an influential section of. the. press,- the Mnssey Government had given its bond to complete the tunnel connecting the east ona the west coasts of the South Island, All'. Michel then dealt with the purchase of: ' lands, thp provision- of counsel for accused persons^-aiid-several other important questions promising to discuss other phases of tho politics of the day at a later date. Ho believed that the Reform Government was growing in strength, and ho asked tho electors of 'Grey to remember that, in casting their votes, tlie.v could vote so as to assist tho cause of a clean, progressive, and honourable Gov-. : eminent. Meeting's, Resolution. . Mr. Michel resumed his seat amid ■ great applause. A number of. questions.-. were asked and answered, Jlr. Michel, in- , the course of his answers, declaring his, belief in tho Arbitration Court as against tho tyrannv of a section of labour! ■ Mr. JI. G. Taylor moved a very hearty vote of thanks to Jlr. Michel for his able political address. The peoplo of Grey know him personally and as.a public man and it would give them plcasuro to see ." him as their member.