MR. HINDMARSH AT BROOKLYN

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 139, 9 December 1914, Page 3

MR. HINDMARSH AT BROOKLYN

THE LAND QUESTION. - There was a large gathering of electors ac Fullford's Hall, Brooklyn, last night, when Mr. A. H. Hindmarsh delivered an . address. Mr. M. Robirjson was in the chair. Mr. Hindmarsh first referred to the 'action of the Massey Party in buying up newspapers all over New Zealand. That party, he said, was undoubtedly a Conservative one, and it was seizing this opportunity of propagating its policy. Slander was , being spread abroad by the Massey Party in a . most reprehensible manner.. . , -Dealing with the land ' question, ' Mr. Hindmarsh touched on' the statement made by Mr. Glass, Liberal candidate for Franklin, that Mr. Massey's. great friend, Mr. Alison, had been speculating largely in \Maori land. He' (Mr. Hindmarsh) had ■'examined the ■ Gazette ' and found that a number of people ' of > tho name .of ; Alison had- speculated very largely in Native land. Captain Colbeck, at 'the Farmers' Conference, had complained of speculation of this sort. Very tittle Native "or Crown land was left, for subdivision, and that which remained was in the hands of the speculators. A candidate who said he was in favour of cutting up Crown land was merely holding out a bait to the electors. Candidates' promises were worth no more than the opinion -of J the party leader. The leader of the Massey Party certainly did not intend to deal with, the existing evils of land aggregation and land monopoly. Cases of these were frequent. The candidate instanced the aggregation at Castlepoint, where the population was so scarce that the working man had to pay £3 10s a year towards tho income of a doctor. Mr. Massey had .refused to remedy matters. His Land Bills were not worth the paper "they were written on. Under the 1912 Act nothing was done to limit land monopoly. Under the 1913 Act power was given to the Government to give landowners notice to cut up their lands or allow the Government to resume them. Some owners were notified, but the names were not made public. One of them was that of a monopolist in Hawkes Bay, and a few weeks after his notice was withdrawn. This was not the way for land settlement to progress in New Zealand. Every responsible man in the country ' realised the need for closer settlement: It was the duty of the electors to put the man into Parliament that would carry it out. The Massey followers would never do this. The graduated land tax was useless in its present form- Unless it was made heavy enough it would not increase the rate at which land was put on the market. In conclusion, ' Mr. Hindmarsh appealed to the electors to remember all the great departments of State which had been built up by the Liberal Party and opposed by the Massey Party. He ad- i vised them to read the speeches of Messrs. Massey, AUen, and others on the land, old-age pensions, and similar subjects, arid to judge for themselves the political incapacity of the "Reformers." The candidate was accorded a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence..