POLITICAL SPEECH.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 94, 18 October 1910, Page 4

POLITICAL SPEECH.

MR. HERDMAN AT SYDNEYSTREET HALL. THE OPPOSITION'S CLAIM TO RECOGNITION. Mr. A. L. Hctrdman, M.P. for Wellington North, delivered an addTess to his constituents in tlie Sydmey-sfoeet Hall' last evening. The building was crowded, a number of ladies being among those present. Mr. H. F. Yon Haast presided. The chairman introduced the speaker in a> brief speech. He declared that the thne had arrived when a spineless Government would have to give way. At the time, in the next fight, the party of reform would have arrayed against it all the insidioua methods of old, the promises of roads and bridges, and all the other devices of which they were already aware. They wanted to get rid of the paralysing curse of politics and pla ce-moingering. Mr. Herdman had a veiry cordial reception. He said that nearly two years had gone by since he had had the pleasure of addressing a Wellington North audience. There waa no freer or more independent constituency than Wellington North. Indeed, there was no Tiore illustrious or respectable constituency — it included the Prime Minister and every member of the Cabinet ! In, coming forward to speak he wished to give a eummai*y of wnat had been done in the last two years. He had also been impelled to come forward because he was convinced a great political change was coming over the country. Consequently, it was necessary for members of Parliament to get into dose grips with the public. The secret of power was votes. He had a great belief in addressing people from the platform. Further, the Opposition was not understood. Every Minister of the Crown was travelling about the Country delivering speeches, and he was canvrnced it was the duty of the Oppoei- ! tion to come before the people and pat forward the .true position of affairs, and urge that the great departmenta of State should be run on purely business lines. BILLS APPROVED. He did not suggest for one moment that the Government had done no good — indeed, in the two years that; he had been in the House the Government had passed certain measures which had had the whole-hearted support of the Opposition. He mentioned the Defence Act, the Lands Settlement Finance Bill, the Hospital and Charitable Aid Amendment Act. BAD MANAGEMENT. At' the same time, there was much to object to in the legislation and administration of this country, and the prevailing evil was bad management. The only way good government could be obtained was to remove the Government from office. (Applause.) When a Government was in power it should ha.v© some definite plan of campaign. The present Government had no ideal and ' no' objective. A Government that could ' not go imto power and say : "This is our policy. No matter what happens we wifll stick by it !" was not worth a rap. The | present Government was like a ship at I ssa : it heeled over to every breeze — ome day from Lawrenoe-Roxburgh, the next day a zephyr from the West Coast, an- I other gust from Canterbury, and then \ a hurricane from Auckland — (laughter) — and the old tub reeled over. THE OPPOSITION OBJECTIVE. The Opposition had an objective. They did not bejieve that it was the policy of a Government to aim at making every ] one dependent on the State. On the j contrary they believed it should be the aim of a Government to make the community strong, teaching every man and woman that it was the duty of each to exert himself or herself to the full. The Opposition did not believe in passing legislation that would help one sec. n of the community and hamper another. They did not believe that the State was an institution to which the people should appeal when a snow-storm came along. The Opposition did not say that people in distress should not be assisted, but they did not believe that it was the business of the State to assist the loafer. The whole trend of public life in i^ecent years had been to lead people to believe that the State was a charitable institution. A FEW CONTRASTS. He jocularly remarked that while one member of the Cabinet said the duty of the Government was to act the part of a parent for the people as a whole, it was well to remember that the"parent" was in many respects an old scamp (laughter) — partly bookmaker and partly anti-bopkmaker, freeholder-leaseholder, Prohibitionist-brewer. In -his opinion, the Government was deserving of being ousted for four reasons : — (1) Because it lacked courage ; (2) because it was inefficient; (3) because it was unwise; and (£) oecause it wasftmjust. To prove the [ Government's lack of courage he instanced its action over Auckland Government House and the Knyvett case. He also declared that the Government had veered round from leasehold to freehold on the land question. As to his charge of inefficiency, he instanced the duplication of the Rntt- Wellington railway line, a work which was originally estimated to cost £100,000, and on which £300,000 had already been spent, while a further £35,000 had been asked for this year. In the city it had been suggested that the Wellington members had done wrong in adversely criticising the work. So long as he was in Parliament, h© would always deem it his right and his duty to criticise extravagant expenditure. He would not sit in the House unless he had absolute freedom and liberty to criticise any gross waste of public money. He also condemned the delay in putting in operation a scheme for the rehousing of Parliament in new premises. It was curious, too, he added, I that in connection with the now Government House that £10,000 had bsen paid I for land, the capital value of which was £6255. THE PUBLIC SERVICE. To further support hia charge of inefficiency, he recalled that Sir Joseph Ward had stated, when announcing his retrenchment scheme, that a sum of £250,000 could be saved per year in. the cost of the Civil Service without impnring its efficiency. That was clear evi- [ dence that £250,000 per annum was being wasted previously. All attempts to get particulars of the names, salaries, and positions of the officers retrenched had met with a refusal from the Government. ParTiament was entitled to those particulars ai well as particulars of the persons who had since been appointed to the service. He specially referred to the appointment of Mr. Dinnie (ex-Com-missioner of Police) as president of a Maori Land Board, and urged that a Royal Commission should be set up to investigate the service. If necessary, the commissioners could be men from outside this country — men who had filled important public positions in some of the great States of the Commonwealth. THE UNWISDOM OF THE' PARTY IN POWER. The charge that the Government was not wise he supported with the allegations that it set class against class, that it stifled industry, that it failed to foster industry, that it spendß money without regard for economy a^d ih§£.

it legislated to keep the industrial world in a constant state of ferment. Then the Government was unjust because it attempted to tax certain people out of existence. It boycotted certain newspapers. Its arbitration laws were also unjust. On these subjects he would have more to say on a future occasion. INDUSTRIAL DECLINE. After quoting a Ministerial utterance that if land settlement went on at the rate of the last few years there would soon be no more land to settle, he urged that industries should be fostered. People should be encouraged to invest their capital ; but there was s. condition of stagnation existing. In 1905 the imports per head of the population equalled £14 2s lOd ; in 1909 the figure was £15 Is 5d per head of the population. Manufactories and works in 1901 numbered 3680, or one for every 214 persons in the country ; in 1906 the number of manufactories or works was 4186, or equal to one for every 216 people in< New Zealand. Practically no progress had been made. He quoted a mass of figures to show that various industries, measured by the value of their output, had declined between 1901 . and 1905.' Industry was feeling the weight of* harassing legislation, which struck the fear of death into the man who had money to invest. " The Government ignored natural laws. What the country wanted at the present time was to be left alone (Hear, hear.) to be allowed to work out its own. destiny. ■ HIS PET HOBBY. "I will conclude by a reference to my pet hobby," he said : "the need for the appointment of a Civil service board." The public service, he maintained,- required better masters, and the people required better public servants. The railways would have to be run by experts. He was * prepared to admit that the Hon. Mr. Millar had honestly attempted to do his best with the railways, but his task was impossible in his position as a Minister. True, a better revenue had been obtained, but it was partially drawn from increased rates. Managed by experts responsible to Parliament, the railways would give | much better results. A public works board was also required to eliminate : the roads and bridges evil. The three j suggested reforms he had last referred to iyou2d do a great deal to purify public life. If the Opposition told the people the plain truth from end to end of the country before the next election, if they roused the people to a sense of their responsibilities, he had no fear of the result, and then the country would indeed be worth living in. Mr. Herdman was accorded a vote of thanks and confidence for his address. The motion was carried amidst cheering.