THE FIGHT FOR REFORM

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2017, 26 March 1914, Page 6

THE FIGHT FOR REFORM

A ROUSING MEETING.

MR. FISHER AT MASTERTON

TOWN. HALL OVERTAXED. NOISY SECTION BADLY BEATEN. (By Toleßrapli.--Special Heporter.l Masterton, March 25. Never before in the history of Masterton has such a lively and enthusiastic political meeting been held in the town as that addressed by the Hon. F. M. B. Fisher to-night. More than half an hour before tho meeting was to open the Town Hall was crammed with people and the doors had to be locked to keep other people from coming in to cause, dangerous overcrowding. Hundreds did not in the end gain admission. There mustj have been 1500 in the hall. Even the stage was occupied. There were a few Social Democrats present; and they set out to make things unpleasant for.the Minister. Such crude methods as howling and counting out never do pert jrb Mr. Fisher,-and' to-, night ho maintained a serene good humour, but fighting back 'sharply when the occasion seemed to require it. In the end the' hostile demonstration weakened almost to vanishing point, and the supporters of» Mr. Fisher triumphed in all'the demonstrations. /Mr. J. M. Coradine, Mayor of tho, town, presided.

Reception of Mr. Fisher. Mr. Fisher as -lie came into the hall through the,crow*d was loudly cheered, but there was a noisy colony at tho back of the hall who hooted and booed determinedly Their little hostile demonstration was very completely drowned by the lusty cheers,_ however. When Jir. Fisher mounted 'tho platform the cheers and tlie hoots but the cheers again predominated. Then the lads at-the back shouted suet remarks as "Where's your baton" _ and "Fetch the specials. "The' chairman appealed for order,, and eventually there was silence. ' 1 The tumult broke out again when Mr. Fisher rose to speak. Before ho touched on -political matters he said he wished to refer-to his visit to Masterton. Ha had visited the school during the afternoon, and lie wished to say that the school was a credit to Masterton and to the headmaster. •The Rlmutaka Incline. Sd far as the development of the district was concerned, he believed it would always bo retarded so long as trains had to run over Wairarapa Incline, and-he hoped the day was not far distant when a new line over an easy route would be laid. (Applause.)' _ He wished to s.peak, ; he said, of the state of,affairs when the;Massey Goveminent': cam© int<i office. (Hoots ana cheers.)"' He said, in. reply to the demonstrators," that no.eauscwat so bad that it would not bear investigation, and that no good could come of trying to stop free speech. When the Government camo into office the. Treasury was depleted, and then tho Government was faced with the strike.at Waihi, the costly invasion of the_ smallpox germ', and last tho worst microbe of all, the Federation of Labour. (Applause -and hoot, 1 ?.) Dealing With a Noisy Section.

Mr. Fisher was here'counted out, anu his comment was, "Just fancy having tho country run by a crowd like that." (Applause.) Mr. Coradine again'appealed for order. (Voices in tho audience, "Put them out"; "Let's put them out." Mr. Coradino sa.id, he would not tolerato disorder, and' if the noisy crowd would -not listen 1 they must go' out. They would not be allowed to remain. Tho-reasonable thing -for them was to go out if they felt so bitterly opposed to Mr. Fisher. Mr.. Fisher continued with some difficulty in tho face of obstruction. It was that tho Government were-crusty old Torios. This was, of course, not true, but it was well to remember that the Tories, as'they wjere called, had provided for''this country State Life In-surance,-State railways,' State telegraphs, and the Public Trust Offico. The wealthier ."squatters," as they were called, had bought land at a time whenthe country wanted money badly. Thev had worked Jiard, and some had fafeS. (A. voice: They got' the land for nothing.) , Mr. Fisher: "I venture to say that most of them worked a- sight harder than tho man who called out ever did." (Hear, hear, and applause.) A good deal had been said some- days ago about monopolies by Mr. Wilford. ,

The Brewers' Monopoly. Mr. "Wilford's name was received with •cheers by the noisy crowd at tho back.; Mr, Fisher remarked again: "I have established the alliance between the Liberals,and the Federation of Labour." Mr. Fisher went on to speak of those monopolies.. Had Mr. "\Vilford spoken of the monopoly of the Union Steam Ship Company and the brewery monopoly P For twenty-one years this brewery monopoly- had- been, protected by the party then in power; land taxes' and intomc taxes had been increased, but the tax on this monopoly had never been increased. The: monopoly had steadily been concentrated into fewer hands, and profits earned , amounted to £250,000, whilo the subscribed capital was only £477,000 for all the breweries in the Dominion. This monopoly would not any longer be protected, .and if there was to bo any attack on monopolies this brewery monopoly should be hit up. The big squatter must go if the community wanted his land, but there must bo no confiscation. There must be no tilting at only one monopoly. If tho man on tho land, producing wool, and meat, was to be taxed, the monopolies producing criminals aiid lunatics must also bo taxed. (Applause.) He remarked that for tho first timo there was in power iit.Ncw Zealand a Ministry, five out of nine of whom Wcro I New Zealand-born.

A voice: They're no good. Mr. Fisher: I know you don't think tlioy'ro any good. The only man you think is any good is the fellow., who was kicked out of Australia and who has como over here to live. 1 (Applause.) ' pensions Legislation. Continuing, Mr. Fisher justified the opposition of tho present Government to tho early pensions legislation. Tho Government had, instead of doing anything to ruin the old age pensions scheme, inndo it more generous. The opponents of the- first Pensions Bill wished to 'rectify some.of the defects in tho legislation. They were still in it, and to that, extent the , pensions legislation was unsound, an(| it would yet have to-be put;right. As it existed it put a penalty on thrift. A voice: We want the "Maoriland Worker." Mr. Fisher: "I.know what you want; you want to discover a way of learning to live without working." (Applause.) Mr. Fisher went on to detail the improvements made by the Government in the pensions scheme. lie hoped it would be still further improved to provide for those people who were chronic invalids .or crippled, a man injured, say, in a quarry. The service of tho community should be provided for by the community. (Applause.) Sea Defence and Other Matters. The., need lor better sea defence was becoming increasingly urgent. The United States had by .altering, its tariff let New Zealand goods iftta t.ha

States on better terms tha.ll Canada had given under her preferential tariff. With the development of these ■piarkcts it would bo iieeessaiy for tl:io Government to enter upon a jnsro progressive public works policy and land settlement policy, and, oar extending trade must be protected. The Government 'had promised to establish another Agricultural College. Was it not remarkable that after 21 years of progressive "Liberalism" there was o'nly 0110 Agricultural College in Ne\y., Zealand, and that only. accessible to the well-to-do P (Applause.) V?-!

The specials who came in from tho country were deserving of national thanks. (Cheers and hoots.) It was monstrous to suggest that an obscure and thoughtless minority was going to run New Zealand. fiii? worker had a right to strike, but not. to black the wheels of commerce by preventing anyone else from working. (Applause.) The Massey Government had been charged with opposing State enterprise, but the fact was that the 'Massey Gov* ornment had broken all previous records in the amount of money advanced to settlers. Someone mentioned the member for Hutt. Mr. Fisher: "The member for Hutt has been, defending bad cases all his life, and he undertook the worst he ever had when he came up here to speak for the Opposition." Continuing, Mr. Fisher told how, per medium of the Public Ac- : counts Committee, the So-voraipent made available to the members of Parliament. and to the people qf the couatrjr all. details of public expenditure, This had not been the rule under the Liberal Government. It was absurd to say, as Mr. Wilford had said, that the details of the cost of Mr. Allen's : trip to-England were not . supplied to the House.. "Here," he said, "are tho Parliamentary returns - asked for in tho House and supplied fire days later, Look at. them. for yourselves (and. he threw a bundle of them into the hall), and you will see .what Mr,, Allen's trip cost. You, will find that he went to England very much. cheaper than Sir Joseph Ward. The Opposition' said they bad a policy, but they kept St'up- their sleeves in , c;iso 1 the Government might stea'l ; it—very . much in the same position as the man who went about , naked for. .fear of. having Iris clothes stolen—they had no policy in fact. .' .

A Recent Opposition Caucus. There was an Oppositio.il caucus meeting in Wellington lately. About 14 : members attended jteaiict the two who took most paii in the .ftroiieedings were not members of at ail. That meeting was referffid to as the war of independence. The result was that Mr. Atmoro went off . triumphant and Mr. Isitt was politically sulking 'in Cliristchurch. Mr! Fisher defended the Government's naval proposals and the .I'ublic Service Act'which, prevented the Service from being 'stuffed' with friends of the party in power. Mr. Fisher referred also to the .Labour: disputes Investigation Bill of last session winch, he said, would have a very good effect for tho community in preventing sense-, less and unnecessary strikes. . It would f'l bo made illegal to strike, But it •ild make,it illegal for men to strike. ore reasonable' investigation of the natters in dispute was made. The Bill a©o provided for something which Labgur agitators 1 did. not .'like:' the takifig of a secret ballot. This would protect men'from insults and. oven hard kiio'cks who refused to bo forced to striko against their will and against their better judgment, ' (Applause.) ' In conclusion lie said lie was sorry to see growing up in New Zealand a party who believed in lawlessness aftd disorder and who would: not alloiv ariyone who disagreed with them to ho heard. His own electorate was the centre' and the Federation of Labour. His back was to tho wail and ho would - fight them. Ho would go down rather than bend his knees to them. (Applause:) At the conclusion of his address Mr. Fisher answered a few questions.. lie was asked whether he. was : a freeholder or a leaseholder aird lie explained' his attitude on this (question; .He. .supported the policy of'the, Massey Government, When tho issue of freehold or leasehold was raised .in the House he found that the freehold was supported even by ■ a 'majority of members' fof the Opposition, aud no saw no more roason .why ho should remain out of a freehold Government to support a freehold Opposition. A motion of thanks to 31 r. Fisher far his address, arid of confidence in the Government, was prpppsddi The noisy section, or a few of them... suggested a snow of hands, but the chairman ruled this suggestion out for t'he reason that, it would'take too long to count the hands. He'asked to carry the motion by acclamation, and the applause and cheering,' Was very hearty and lontt sustained. 'Hie opp&nents of Mr. Fjslier, it' was quitfe'-clear, Were in a liopeless minority. It seemed, 1 looking at the riudieiice that everyone was either clapping his haii'ds or waving his hat. It was; really a rouslrig, enthusiastic demonstration.

' After the meeting Mr. Fisher Was entertained at supper -by ar party of tho supporters of the Reform Government in tho Mastcrton district. On behalf of the company. Sit Walter Buchanan, M.P., and Mr. G. Pykes, M.P., thanked Mr. Fisher for having come to the district to aid ih the fight for reform, and wished him fuccfts in the strenuous fight lie linci ahead of him against the forces of lawlessness arid disorder., Mr. Fisher .acknowledged' tho compli - ment and the. good _ wishes., nnc( said that lie was determined to put up a good fight, and to win the Central seat ;if - lie possibly could.