SECOND BALLOT. MR. M'LAREN'S CANDIDATURE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 121, 20 November 1908, Page 3

SECOND BALLOT. MR. M'LAREN'S CANDIDATURE.

HIS POLICY OUTLINED. LAND, LABOUR, AND OTHER QUESTIONS. Mr. D. M'Laren, Labour candidate for ■Wellington East, addressed the electors at the Clyde-quay Schoolroom last night. The weather was tempestuous, notwithstanding which the electors, including eeveral women, assembled in fair numbers, some fifty or sixty being preeent. Mr. G. Jackson presided, and in opening the proceedings said he was perfectly sure there was no one who took such a keen interest in political questions as Mr. M'Laren. He was always thinking for the people, and of the people. He declared his firm belief that at least thirty Labour members shpuld have been returned to represent the workers in Parliament (Hear, heat.) He appealed to the people to vote for Labour, and pointed to the Wairarapa as a district where closer Settlement is required. The candidate, who was received with enthusiasm, expressed his pleasure at finding an employer going even further than himself. He was more than gratified with the result of the first ballot, but he looked to the residents of that district to give Labour direct representation in Parliament. THE OPEN DOOR. From his position as the one Labour member of the City Council he practically changed " the policy of that body, as he brought about an open door method of transacting business. He wanted an open door method in Parliament — more information made public — particularly in regard, to the expenditure of public money. He believed the Government would secure more support by such a method than by being secretive, as if they feared the criticism of the Opposition. A STEADYING INFLUENCE. They required him as a steadying influence in Parliament. That might sound a queer thing to say of an agitator, but they would find he would give a careful scrutiny to finance, as only by caio in finance could the country go ahead. What policy should they pursue in regard to the expenditure of public moneys? There was a suspicion that the Premier and his colleagues would go in for a plunging policy, and to that suspicion was to some extent due the .weakening of the Government position. If trade and commerce were run on extravagant lines, there would be the inevitable reaction, and he therefore desired to see economy in regard to public finance. A GLIMPSE OF THE PAS 11.I 1 . Mr. John Ballance was only in power for two years, but in that period he reduced the taxation per head, and gavethe colony a big lift forward. Since his death we had borrowed about £27,000,000, and although about £18,000,000 was interest bearing, he thought there had been caielessness in carrying out public works and investments which did not produce the required return. Ho instanced the expenditure at Rotorua ; the money spent the-re had been spent extravagantly, and he urged that more money should be spent, not in beautifying Rotorua, bufc in beautifying the Jhomes of the people in the larger centres. (Applause.) He had heard of a case* in which money was expended on making a road at Wairoa, foi no particular public purposes* The Government should put a check on itself in that respect. LIMITATION OF BORROWING. He was in favour of limiting public borrowing. It could not be stopped altogether, but it could be reduced gradu- ' ally until the foreign moneylender need no longer be depended on. He wanted the self-reliant policy of John Ballance re-considered, because the private wealth of the country had doubled since 1890, and self-reliance was, therefore, aiore practicable now than then. Supporters of the Opposition and others desired to see the country attempt to carry through in two or three years financial operations which a country of this size could only hope to carry through in about twenty years. The result would be a temporary boom and afterwards to throw a great many people out of employment, and he urged that they should rather go in for a policy of steady growth. TORIES, NOT DEMOCRATS. Thers were members of the Govern^ ment party who might more properly be regarded as Tories than Democrats, and he contended that his presence in Parliament would bo a check on their aonservatism. Whatever sound work the Government took up would always receive the candid and strong support of Labour. (Hear, hear.) THE LAND QUESTION. Take for instance the land legislation of last year. That policy was suggested by the Trades Conferences and supported by the Labour people, as was also the retention by the Crown of national endowments. Whatever was of a democratic character, if economically sound, would be supported by him if he was in Parliament. (Applause.) There was the danger that the system of freehold for Crown lands would be carried out by a coalition between the Opposition and th« more Conservative members of the Government. That wa* where he would come dn as a check, and he urged that in th« interests of the country he should be sent to Parliament for that and similar purposes. The land question was far from being settled, and would be unsettled so long as the socially-earned increase in Che value of land went into the hands of the private owners. He was absolutely opposed to selling Crown lands at all — at present or past value — (applause) — and he had carried out that policy from his seat •in the City Council in opposing the sale of city lands. In the Crown lands still held lay a val.uable asset, and he would bo adamant in defence of the retention of those lands. (Applause). As to The Evening Post, he recognised that thw articles in that paper in favour of retaining the iand in the hands of the Crown had been very valuable, but he regretted that the candidate the paper was supporting was not so "sound on the goose" as the paper itself. Mr. Atkinson appeared to favour the optional system in regard to all lands ; that was where they | differed. NATIVE LANDS. As to native lands, so far no statesmanlike reform had been carried out, and he considered that as a good deal of money had been expended on commissions and temporary legislation, they had a right to expect that something more effective would be done. There were large areas of native land, the development of which would add greatly to the prosperity, of the Dominion and furnish Work for a great many people. Native owners were not required to pay local rates, and therefore local bodies would not raise loans to open them up ; as such lands did not furmsn the necessary security. iWairoa furnished a good example of the difficulty of native land settlement, as owing to the land being locked up there, the country was not being developed. One suggested remedy was the indivtduahsation of ownership ; that process was endless, and be did not believe that I

the question could be settled on those lines. The other method was to give the hapus and individual owners power to sell their lands to Europeans. He did not approve of that, as it would throw the land into the hands of speculators, and leave the Maoris landless. The Government had to adopt a more drastic method, and he urged that it should practically, proclaim a protectorate over such lands and hold them in trust for the natives. It would then subdivide the Janfl, see to its profitable settlement, set apart land for the Maoris, lease the remainder, and let the rents be received by the Public Trustee for the benefit of the owners. That would be better than the present system for the Maori owners, as itwould ensure them a regular income in place of windfalls, besides which it would ensure the settlement of the land, which was an object that was particularly desirable. He would give the Maori owners every facility and assistance in 'farming their own lands, hut the whole amount of the land cultivation and dairying carried on by the natives was very small indeed, and he believed that a better result would be obtained by the system he proposed. COUNTRY WORKERS. He considered that country workers required more legislative protection than city workers for this reason : that country workers were not in such a good position by means of organisation to defend themselves. FARMERS' UNION. lie feared that the Government had been trusting too much to the support which they might get from the srjuattocracy of the country, and to the support they might get from the Farmers' Union. The Government must be reminded that by depending upon such support it was at the same time handing itself over in a measure to the Conservative principles which those classes stood for. IMMIGRATION. Mr. M'Lavert rend a quotation from the London Daily Mail, in which it was stated "that Australia and New Zealand could take at feast 25.000 girls and women annually for many years to come, either for work as domestic servants and lady helps, until they took their natural place in life — daughter) — and also accticnltural workers." That was the kind of information that was circulating in the Old Country at the present time. He did not hold the Government responsible •for thpse renorts, but he wanted the Hie;h Commissioner's office* to circulate information that set forth exactly what was the true position as to the labouT requirements of the country, and no more. (Applause.) The Government ought to see that misrepresentations in this respect were stopped. He would like to see our present immigration svsfcem revised and improved. If we fully attended to the opening up of tht> Crown lands under the leapehold system, and the providing of facilities for the opening up of lands in the back-blocks, on the most generous terms to such settlers : if we took steps to as speedily as possible settle the native land question on proper lines, w"e would not require to spend public money in assisting immigrants to come to this country, because, the country being fitted for the people, the people would come of themselves. NEW MARKETS AND LOCAL CONSUMPTION. New Zealand depended upon comparativly few industries and sources of wealth, such as wool, meat, flax, etc. He would do his best lo promote the opening up of new markets for our produce. The local market needed developing more fully than it was at the present time ; and that ought to be done by following the lines of the Labour policy, which had been described by himself and other members of the Labcur Party, IF PROVED METHODS OF PRODUCTION. Dr. Findlay stated some time ago that, in his opinion, we could do little more in the way of granting higher wages no tho workmen employed in this country. Ho i(Mr. M'Laren) agreed with Mr. Milliir when he said that in treating with the commodities which had to enter into competition with the commodities of other countries, we could not very much more increase the cost of Labour. But he (Mr. M'Laren) submitted this : that if we encouraged the development of industries by improving the modes of production, by securing the Lest machinery to carry on our industries, those industries would be in a position to pay higher wages, and better conditions would prevail than ex isted in other countries. It would be his best endeavour — instead of attempting to adopt a policy which might harass employers starting in business — to assist in every way he could to increase the productions of our manufactories, and to see that the wages of the workmen were increased to a higher a\erage than they were even now. EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES. He believed there was one weak element in the Conciliation and Arbitration Act which ought to be remedied. That Act had practically placed employers in this position : as if they were all anti-Labour men, and as if their interests were distinct and antagonistic to v those of Labour. The employers were no more responsible for the present economic state of society than the workers were. (Applause.) He wanted to see such alterations made in the industrial law as would allow small employers to take sides with those in support of Labour principles, for the reason that their interests were very much more in sympathy with the class he had referred to than with gigantic trusts and combines. That was his reason for desiring to pursue a broad" Labour policy, and for seeking to promote the solidarity of the Labour movement, so as to secure the best results for the people as a whole. EDUCATION. Without education there could be no sound democracy. He supported the present system of State education, but he desired to see that system very greatly extended. He wished to see it extended until we had one complete system of free education from the elementary schools to the universities — where there should be no bar to any child receiving the best education if it had the capacity to receive it. TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. He wanted also to see every encouragement given in the matter of technical instruction, because the future industries of the country, both from a utilitarian and an artistic standpoint, depended largely upon the ordinary and the technical schools and colleges of the country. As a member of the Wellington Technical Education Board he was gfad {o have the privilege of assisting in that work. He desired to see the Government encourage technical instruction on the art side as fully as possible, for the purpose of securing not only a full industrial production, but also to secure the best in quality, because, as Raskin had pointed out, by the production (if beautiful things we could develop properly the characters of our people. His aim would be to assist in broadening out our system of technical instruction. He had always supported the proposal that a technical school should have been established on the Mount Cook site. He did so because he wanted to see it erected in the very heart of the working population. EDUCATION BOARDS. Hfl wanted to see reform in the. direc-.

tion of simplifying the method of control, so that there should be less con- [ ftict between Education Boards an-1 School Committees. He thought they would find it necessary in a very short time to have the boards elected directly by tho people for the control of educa1 tion within a given area, the members ; of such boards being responsible to the people who had elected them. That system worked well in Scotland. The people would then take a deeper interest in our educational institutions, and the result would be the broadening of our educational system all round. (Applause.) LOCAL GOVERNMENT. As regarded local government, ho wanted a more democratic control, and he would like to see the Parliamentary franchise applied to local elections. He would like to see subsidies paid on a definite system, in proportion to the local contributions for the carrying out of local works. In that way the element of favouritism wqu-ld be shut out. CONCLUSION. He wanted to prevent the exploitation of the public lands. He wanted to extend the political rights of the people; to iucrease the protection that was given to all classes of toilers — brain workers as well as manual workers; he wanted the homes of the people improved/ so that the lives of women and children might be made better and more comfortable, particularly in the cities ; ho wanted more attention paid to the development and training of our future citizens by providing the fullest means of culture for the rising generation. He looked forward to the day when we would only have two political parties in this country, with a straight line of demarcation between them — a party of Labour on the one hand, and the party opposed to Labour on the other. That was coming rapidly in this country. By returning him to Parliament he submitted they would be assisting to purify the politics of the countoy, and make the issues of public life clear for the good of the whole people. (Applause.) In reply to questions, Mr. M'Laren said he would like to see it made compulsory that apprentices should have time off to attend technical classes. He was in favour of establishing State farms. At the conclusion of his address a hearty vote of thanks and confidence was accorded to Mr. M'Laren.