PARTY LEADERS

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 138, 9 December 1919, Page 4

PARTY LEADERS

REFORM'S POLICY PRIME MINISTER IN AUCKLAND CONFIDENCE EXPRESSED IN GOVERNMENT. (EI TELEGBAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.) AUCKLAND, Bth December. The Prime Minister addressed two political meetings in Auckland to-night. He first spoke at Newmarket, in the Auckland East district, where Mr. Clutha Mackenzie, the blind soldier candidate, is opposing the' Hon. A. M. Myers. Mr. Massey was in good form and - scored Heavily in several goodhumoured exchanges. The great majority of the audience were with him, and occasionally objections to his statements were speedily drowned in applause. NO PARTY WRANGLING. Mr. Massey said that he was not going to indulge in any party wrangling. He left that sort of thing to others. If he was attacked he could defend himself, whether in the House or anywhere else, but that was as far as it went. The war, continued Mr. Massey, was a thing of the past. . Tho question was now of the future and what use was to be made af the future. The country was face to face with the results of war, the' most pressing of which was the total debt of £200,000,000 on which we had to pay interest and sinking fund. In order to meet, this enormous liability, continued Mr. Massey, it was necessary to go in for a policy of deve'°Pment sucn- country had never known before. The output of produce and the volume of ex- ; ports must be increased. The experiences of the war .had shown what the country could "do even with all the best men away Those who were left, and i the women and children as well, had > worked so that the yield of produce and the volume of exports had. been maintained and increased. Since March, 1915, the date when the Imperial rei quisitkm of produce commenced, the i Dominion Had received from the Imperial authorities the sum of ' 000. When the present arrangements crme to an end in June next, he believed that the total "would have swelled i to .£125,000,000, and perhaps more than ! that. This, he repeated, was done when j all the beat men of the Dominion were : away on service. They were now. back, ! save for 17,000, who would never rei turn, and a vigorous policy of developj ment must be pursued. The figures he 1 had quoted, said Mr. Massey, spoke volumes for the industry of the people, and for the potentialities of the country, and these were two things upon which we must depend if we were to overtake our liabilities. PUBLIC works; « When the war began public works I bud been dropped. It was now essential tc prosecute a scheme of railway construction. Lines north of Auckland must be pressed on, particularly- one making connection with Whangarei. So must the great East Coast line, which would eventually run to Napier Then there was that line connecting with Taramnki, running from some place in tho King Country, the name of which had- escaped his memory for the moment. A voice: Waiuku. (Laughter.) Mr. Massey : Thank you for reminding me of Waiuku. I was up there a few days ago,, and it is no mean city. (Laughter and applause.) The Prime Minister continued that improvements must be made in the. Main Trunk line and the service. Disregarding some attempted interruption, he said that we must look forward. In the years to come .railways would .be built where they were not thought of to-day. "At five shillings a day," persisted an interjectoi", who insisted on having his voice heard. Mr. Massey : That's all right. A man is generally taken at his own valuation, and, if that is all you are worth, I am sorry for you. Continuing, the Prime Minister said that we had to go In for a voading policy in this country.. Another thing that was urgently required in this country was a hydro-electric system. The value of water-power was now realised. A few years ago never a thought was given to the power that was being allowed to run to waste in the rivers and streams of the Dominion. In years to come these would be fully developed. ANOTHER ADDRESS AT PARNELL. At the conclusion of .his speech at Newmarket Mt. Massey motored to Parnell, where lie arrived at the conclusion of the address by Mr. J. S. Diskson, the Government candidate for the seat, There was a distinctly hostile element in the audience, but Mr. Massey, in masterly fashion, succeeded in getting on good terms with his hearers, and was given an excellent hearing during the remainder of his speech. The next question, he said, was that of land settlement. - More must now be done H-han had been done in. the past. During the war the policy of land settlement had largely been suspended. It would not have been fair i/p men who were at the front to have' earned on while they were absent, and unable to participate in it. Land settlement had been pressed vigorously during the last twelve imonths. There were still millions of acres, however, not yet touched. A voice : Why don't you let working people get some of it! Mr. Massey : There is no man in New Zealand who cannot get land if he has the same grit and energy as those who have, already token it up. A voice : Where is the money to coma from ? Mr. Massey : Go to work, earn the money, and do as the early settlers oB this country did. (Applause.) Sojnebody spoke of the people of Pukekohe. They went into the heart of the bush as it then waa, and without half-arcrown in their pockets, and took at the position they are in now! A voice: All good land has been (mapped up. Mr. Massey : "There is as good landl as any in this country which has not yf.t been touched, and in saying this I know what I am talking about." There was also land, he continued, which was not producing up to its full capacity. It waa being held by land speculators and others. These people had to be made to work it or get out. A voice : They are pretty slow, in doing it! Mr. Massey : "Yes-, and some of them, are good- Liberals, too." (Laughter.) Dealing with Native land, the Prima1 Minister said that some 700.00& acres had been purchased by the present Governments and, so far as he was a judge, the whole of it. would be pn the market and available for settlement within the next- two years. Mr. Massey also dealt, extensively with the cost of living, and the stepsi taken by the Government to deal with the question. At the conclusion, a vote of thank? and continued confidence in Mr. Massey and the Reform was carried by a iavpro majority. Roth. Mr. Maps&y's mpetings ware crowded to the doors, % nnd many' were -unable to obtain adini_ion.