LIBERAL CAMPAIGN MR. MACDONALD AT HELENSVILLE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 71, 25 March 1914, Page 3

LIBERAL CAMPAIGN MR. MACDONALD AT HELENSVILLE

NATIVE LANDS. * (IT fBLKORAPH— SPECIAL TO THE POST.) AUCKLAND, This Day. In his speech at llelensville. Mr. W. D. S. Mat Donald, M.P., said that they on the Liberal side of the House looked upon Kaipara as a Liberal electorate, and, as a Liberal electorate, the party looked to it to put a good Liberal candidate in the field. (Hear, hear.) The present Government did not represent the people of the country ; they had gained the '£rea6ury benches by the aid of political intrigue and treachery. Thote Liberal members who had betrayed the trust reposed in them at the last! election would, he believed, be dealt with at the next elections in a manner which would leave no doubt as to the opinion of the electors of New Zealand concerning the action of political traitors. He himself had supported, and did support, the Liberal Party, because he knew and appreciated what that party had done and would continue to do for New Zealand. (Loud applause. ) Touching on Native land, the speaker pointed c-ut that in the nOTth of Auckland there were 3,800,000 acres cf Nativo land, so that they were closely interested in the question. The Native Land Acf. of 1909 was such a splendid piece ot" legislation that the present Nativo Minister warmly applauded it. Since that Act was passed, 1,483,000 acres of Native land had been alienated — a total of half a million acres a year — and half of the alienated land h?d been disposed of .outright. What had the Conservative Government done to speed up the opening of Native land? The Bill of 1909 had. 419 clauses, and was put through all its stages in three or four hours— a good proof that hardly anyone m the Houso understood, what it meant. Yet that Aci, was a masterpiece of Liberal legislation for the solution of the Native land problem. Mr. MacDonaW praised the work done by Sir James CaTroll when Minister of Native Alfairs. "Sir James Carroll," he said, "has been called the 'taihoa' Minister, but he has done more to bring about peace and goodwill in the Nativo land settlement of this country than any man in the country's history. He ccul'd have been the most popular man in the Dominion if, like some members of Parliament, he had chosen to betray his people, but lie would not do so. (Applause.) Yet in one year he disposed of (3 J 7,000 acres of Native land by way of sale and lease, while the Conservative Government, through Mr. Herries, and with nil the machinery at its disposal, was able to settle only 450_.000 acres, or 200,000 acres less than the 'taihoa' Minister — Sir James Carroll. 1 firmly be^ lieve," concluded Mr. Mac Donald, amid hearty laughter, "that Mr. Herries is the real champion 'taihoa' Minister."