THE GENERAL ELECTION

Evening Star, Issue 12652, 4 November 1905, Page 12

THE GENERAL ELECTION

MR W. D. MASON AT IJILTOX. Mr \V. D. Mayan, who is standing in oppototion to Mt James Alien for the Bruce eeat, addressed the electors at Mißon last night. Mr \V. Moore, Mayor of Milton, was in the chair, and introduced tlw, speaker. Mr James Hollows, sterol ary of the Kaifcujoota Miners' Union, was also on the plauonn Mr Mason, -who was received with applause, oomiaeiMX'd by saying that the responsibility <>f opening the campaign in MHtoo, the chief centre of Bruce, had devolved upon him by no fault of his own. It was his desire that no shadow of reproach should rest upon him or the party lie had the honor to represent by any implied discourtesy to the -sitting member. Upon Mr Alrm they liad waited very patiently, and only when they received word of the commencement of his meetings hod arrangements been made for the present meeting. He was there tlvat night to commence a purely party light. Jio peTwmalrtien of any kind would be indulged Til by him, ami whatever criticism he had to make, he would have his heapens understand, was criticism of a party and a policy, not of an. individual. He and his opponent could agree to differ in regard to party politics, and yet maintain a respect for each other as citizen*. He was a colonist of thirty-two years' standing, ltaviug come to New Zealand 1 ns a boy of fifteen. Now Zealand had been a kind mother to him, and its interests he would strive to further. Tt was more to him than even the- land of his birth. It-was commonly said that a farming constituency should send a fanner to Parliament to repnscrrt them, li there, was a farmer in Tokomahiro, hp was one. lie had spent twenty-three years in huts and tents, doing the work of a pioneer. He had also made a study of politics and social economic questions. He stood, politically speaking, upon the platform of pure democracy. By democracy lie meant the government of the people, by the people in the best interests of the people as a whole, and not as they had had it in the past, and evon at the present time to a very large extent—a government by a class in the interests of tlwmeelves and their frauds, to the detriment of the comnnmity as a wlrolp.—(Applause ) It was unnecessary to say that he was a supporter of the present. Seddon Administration. on the ground that it was the beat Administration they had ever hao in the interest, of the workers who toiled with hands or brain. It. liad been asserted that the prosperity of the country, which all admitted, was ■not due to that Administration. In the whole of hi? experience- he had never known the wage-earner, the farmer, awl the business man to be as successful ami prosperous as tliey were today. They were told -that that, success and prosperity" were the result of the prevailing gcorl prices, good crops, and many othiT things. Certainly good prices and good crops liad their good effect upon; the country, but- in. the, prosperity of the country there had been other factors at work. The same conditions were existent awav back in the seventies; and was the conn trv as successful and piospc.rous then? They hail land booms in those days, and, !:ke" other boom-s. they- bin-si, an<l prosperity disappeared with them. Hut the money was still in the country, tliongh in the pocket." of the few. At tine present Ijme the people were reaping the benefit of the wise and humane laws, passed dnr irtg the last {uw years, that bad mndc tlie distribution of wealth more equal. They had not taken away from the rich and ■iivt.il to the poor, but they lrad given the worker a better share of Vine wealth produced than he had had in past days. Kvery law placed on the Statute Book for the benefit of the fanners and the trading classes had been opposed tooth ami nail by th© Opposition. The Ijand for Settlements Act. Advances to Settlers Act. the taxing of aht-ciitee landlords, the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, and the Factories Act every one of th«e had been fought and opposed by (he Opposition to the utmost of their power, arid in many instance* it was by physical persistence that- thr Government had carried the measures through. The. Advances to Settlers Act was passed by a block vote of the muchdespised Labor party.

—Education. — I He considered that this was one of the I first questions of the day. A good sys- j tern of education was one of the finest j assets a country could have, and I here fore he believed in the fullest and freest education a nation could give. He supported a free, secular, and compulsory svstem. Therefore lie was opposed to the introduction of Bible or Bible lessons into the Slate schools, for several reasons, some of which he would give. Our so-railed secular system was not altogether secular, because in the school books there were many references to the Deity, etc. He opposed the proposal because he remembered the days of his yonth in the Old Country, which were days of discord. Sectarian schools liad always been an clement of discord. There was not a man or woman in the room who could not meet 00 some common ground or other, hnt on the subject of religion many of them were poles apart. They could not get a system of religion that wonld suit all parties, anil even if they could there was no State religion. He was opposed to the Bible in schools on ;inother ground, and that was that the modified proposal of the party was that they did not. want to introduce the Bible, bnt a series of lessons based c-n either the Victorian or the. New South Wales text books. The New South Wales system might be said to have no influence over the children, because the people of that State oroduced a greater nop of immorality, insobriety, etc., than the people of this country. In Victoria the insobriety was very many times greater than that of New Zealand, which, with South Australia, stood out as the most honest and sober community in the. Australasian group.—(Applause.) Conld we then do any good by introducing the. Bible into the schools? As it was, the teachers taught a very high moral standard. A great reform could be made in the matter of small country schools, which wore very poorly equipped, and in which teachers and children were very much handicapped. He also objected to the system of teaching by standards. A child could not attain to a free scholarship except when under a certain age, and our system of standards made it impossible for tlie child otherwise to gain a scholarship no matter how intelligent he might be. He advocated a uniform sys-tt-in ai scHoot books, aT±d oorcteoxicdl tba.t the present system of supplying books was a bad one. There should be a uniform series of books printed in the Government Printing Office and distributed at cost price.—'(Applause.) But while on the question of education, he asked his hearers to give the Government credit tor the reforms that they had brought in, such as the provisions" for free travelling tor school children, for free scholarships, and for helpiDg settlers in the matter of home teaching in isolated places. The system of paying teachers was a very bad one. A teacher's salary should depend on whether he was a good teacher, and not on whether the children had got the measles or not. He believed in a teacher's superannuation scheme, but he did not think there would be any necessity for a subsidy if the teachers were properly paid. Nevertheless, the State should be prepared to guarantee the scheme until it was on a perfectly sound financial basis. —(Applause.) —Labor Legislation.—

He was a strong supporter of the (jovemmeniis labor legislation, and there was not an Act of the Government with regard to Labor in any shape or form tliat he would wish to fee repealed. He was pleased bo see, too, that the Opposition- were of the same nrind They would not repeal these laws if they were pat in power, but there would be no one to cany them out. It would bo the same as in Mr Bradsbaw's time, when, the good laws in existence were allowed to become a dead letter after the party in opposition crane into power. They were toM ttat tte Labor legislation was the cause of the high coat of living. But could anyone say how the price of muttou had risen through the legislation of tire Oovemmest? The total increase in the cost of production did not amount to 6d per 104. but the-nrke hadjrone-uo-.55. One-

sixteenth of a farthing extra on butcher's n>eat would more than pay the wlk>lo increase in the cost of production. He gave other instances of the same character. As ; it farmer of twenty-five years' experience, ! he maintained that what the farmer wanted . wns not cheap production or cheap wages men, but good consumers. The system of co-operat'fve labor was decried by those who lived not according to the primal law (by the sweat of their brows), but by collaring some of the sweat of the other fellow's brow. There was nothing that Mr Seddon liad done wfhich redounded so much to his credit as the instrtntson of the co-operative work system. Works under this system could be done cheaper than by outside contract, because the prices were kept be-low .schedule rotes. Another measure for which parents owed deep gratitude to tho Government was that regulating the. pavment of wages to children. It had been claimed that the result of trades I unionism was the " ca' canny" policy, or. in other word', "Go as slow as you can." j This was not true. In support of this he j quoted tho tribute, paid by the roan who .superintended the construction of tho Wei. hngton electric tram-way system to the uprightness and ability of the workers of New Zealand. During'the last, fifteen years no lets 'than twenty-three measures in the interest of the workers had been placed en the Statute Book by the Seddon Government. —The Land Question. — He was utterly opposed to the e;de of Drown lands, which ho considered a brea-.-n o c trust on the part of this generation by felling the children's lreritage into private hands. The result of tho freehold system in other lands condemned it. It would be a suicidal policy to part with an acre of the remaining lands. Thero was nothing in the cry for tlie freehold uuless they wanted to set up a system of landlordism, and landlordism was a curso to any country. Nothing woa more false than to say that Fir.nce was a land of peasant freeholder.-. The land in that country wn:, gradually parsing l>ack into the hands of the 'argo proprietors', who had now got lwre than three-fourths of it It was the tendency of the smell proprietor to sell out- to the. large. There was only one argument in favor of the freehold, and it wui one easily deposed of —security of tenure. Tluy could give a man land on any lease, they liked, and let him find another tenant when lie w.wited to ■■'ell out. —(Applause.) He w;is in favor of the Land for Scttl-omenls Act, and Ite did not agree with what Mr .'" Hen had said some years ago, to tlie effect ih.it would-be settlers should be driven into the back country, on tho ground that, though it might be bad for the settlers, it would be good for the colony. He (the candidate) had tied experience of the. waste buuk of the back country, aud he tliought tho sitting member bad spoksn in ignorance of the subject. His argument wm Like telliug the proprietors of the woolleli mills not to go on pushing the trade romid about, but to go into the backblocks. He looked upon the Workers' Dwellings Act as a law tliat .should havo l>een passed long ago, and he hoped its provisions would be extended to the smaller centre-.. In this matter we were thirty yt,ais behind the Old Country, and he thought the system in vogue there might be applied here. —(Applause.) He was altogether opposed to loading for roads. He did nos tihink it was sound IcgisUition to oppose a tax on settlers for making roads through lands under the Land for Seti'cmeiita Act. As to the questions of eduent.on reaerves and the cutting up of higu i umtry. be expressed the opinion that lolhing sliordd st:ind in tho way of close wttlentent. Iy;md which wa& for settlement should be tut up. All .systems <rf pastoral holdings should give way to closi'i :;etit!ement, and that could I«e di>ite v/ith justice to present occapauis and bonetit to the The Opj;osition propovil t.> give the freeJiold to les-.-e.-x ii: perpetuity v.;is noiliing less tlnan a bribe ro .seutlen-i It was practically saying " (iivo ue ottice, ej;d wo will give you the freehold and the wiK-ained increment with it.'' -I'totectinL; Local Industries.— Ho did not. think there slwtild bo a hard--uid-last system of taxing, but they should protect loc;d industries from oompetitiiiu hy sweating work. Tho home nutrket tv<is best. Meat, butter, grain, etc., sold at better prices locally tbdn abroad. If they did not encourage locil industries their children would have to emigrate. The Farmers' L'niou and ;i large, liody of other jieople had scruples about putting on a proactive tariff. They wanted cheap American machinery, but if they sent their woolkti goods to America tho"Americans would put a 40 pee cent., duty on them, and if they sent it in the. raw material there would i>e .i 75 }«r cent. duty. Under these eir(■uinstances it would lie- a pity not to put a small duty on what the Americans exported.—l Applause.) As to the competiticn in the coal trade by other countries. he did not. see why they should send out of New Zealand aud keep the local people idle. As to tho Harvester 'lVust. some tirtistic legislation was proposed, but neither party seemed to know what to do. He believed in a strict protective tariff being put on to keep out- any trust. They knew that the idea of the trust was to buy out all opposition and then put up prices to lehabiiitate themselves. But still, cant ion should be exercised. There was a proposal on the part of the implement manufacturers that £$ duty should be put on implements for every pound that they reduced their own prices. That, looked a very fair profiosal, but before anything of the kind viis accepted they should inquire as to the amount added to prices some years ago, when tho local people formed a combine. Probably the £2O plough of to-day used to cost £lB. The implement manufacturers ■ ught to be made to show their books.— (Applause.) He cruotod .Tobn .Ruskin thus : " It is the duty and natural state of a yeung country to impose protective duties to encourage its industries."—(Applause.J —Other Matters.— The locil grvernment system needed reft rm. He did not believe in tlie present system of plural voting. Kvery householder should have one vote; and no more- Greater power sriould be given to local bodies with regard to raising loans, the merging of districts, etc He supported a referendum with the initiative, and was opposed to an elective executive for various reasons. The latter proposal seemed to have dawned on tho Opposition when they found themselves unablo to get back into power in any other way. He argued that, with various parties in existence, the party system would comejust the same if we had an elective executive. The chief argument iu favor of the elective exs-iUtive was tint under such a system a measure could be rejected without turning out tiie Ministry. But tlria could "be obviaX.xi t>y uppcrio.ti.n.g tho Minister-. for a tixed term. He was opposed to Prohibit ion. and favored .State- ownership as the best means of doing away with the- evils of excessive drinking.—-(Appla-usc.) He was in favor of the State coal mines and the .State tire insurance. • He believed that the application of tho powers of Government to the. control of any mono]>oly was a proper thing. If any monopoly was against the interests of the people, the Government should take it into tlieir hands and run it for tlie benetit of tho people. There was a shipping combine in New Zealand, which practically prevented any other company from running in opposition. Was it not rank folly to go to all the troublo that was taken by the Agricultural Department in the direction of improving the quality of our produce, and then to turn that produce over to a shipping combine to make their own profit out of rt? Personally, ho would ;.dvocato a line of State steamers to the Old Country for the carriage of New Zealand produce.—(Applause.) 'The question had been asked: Was our prosperity real. or were we being deluded by tlie wicked Seddon Government? Tlie people that bad been called tho " Stinking Fish party " said that it was not real. But in this connec-

Hon he quoted the remarks of Mr J. (J. Konaldeon ("a ookl-blooded business.man, making a cold-blooded statement of a business fact") in liis'lecture before the Accountants' Students Society in Dunodin, showing the remarkable increase in the prosperity of the country. They all knew about the

s "voucher scandal" and "audit scandal." - It was alleged' that the Premier and his e son had conspired to defraud the country, s : but Mr Mason reminded lib? hearers that , I the chief witness at the inquiry had said 1 that he did not believe the Premier's son s had ever received a penny of the money 'f There was alar* the inference that money 0 could be taken without the Audit Office *■ knowing anything about it, but he guarany teed that when the Judges-' report was r handed in they would say that the thing * waa all rubbish. He wished to give credit ° to Sir Wm. Russell, Mr Fraser (of Wakae tipu), aaurl Mr Lewis (of Christchurch), the T three members of the OppositioTi who had v walked into the lobby in Opposition to the e proposal to have ail inquiry into this k matter. '" —ln Conclusion, — |" he asked if tine attitude of the Opposition ' m tlie past, and on matters of progressive '. legislation, was such as to justify trust >', in them for the future. He asked the c working men and women of the country 0 if the party that had suffered) most by 1 reason of their efforts to benefit the settlea's and the workers had not earned gratitude, r and were not deserving of another lease of 0 office?—(Applause.) On the ground of i. common sense and business acumen, they a should not trust these men. Mr Duthio i- had opjiosed the Advances to Settlers Act on tho ground that it would be a meaas of corruption Did they know anyone corj ruptedi by it? Finally, he thanked his ft audience lor the patient hearing they hod ~ given him, and) said that he had nothing e to hide, and wanted to put matters before a tliem as straightforwardly as possible. e In. reply to questioue, Mr Mason said f that he was in favor of a State Bank. „ On the motion of Mr J. R. Lynch, 1- s-econded by Mr T. jefcoate, a vote of thanks to the candidate was carried. 1 Mr John Duncan, who is again contesting the Wairau seat against the Hon. C. H. Mills, delivered his principal speech at \ Blermeim on Thursday. Headveieely criti- ° cised the administration, of the Govern- '! ment. and declared himself a freeholder, with the limitation of areas. He advocated e tm elective Legislative Council and the con- ' solidatinin and extension of local govern- ' ment. so as to take the power of bribing I constituencies with public moneys oat of ' the hands of party government. { Sjieaking at Port Aburiri. Mr Montagu Lascelles, a candidate for Napier, : ' expressed himself in favor of the GovernT ment, but thought some of their legislation '[ was not good. He favors the present sys- '"' torn of appointment to the Legislative ' Council, but. would hmit the. term of future r appointees to four years. Ho supports the ; Land for S<*tJements Act and the lease in j perpetuity, though he thinks that under the present circiimstaiicos it might be 1 better to grant the freehold. While approving of the labor legislation passed by 3 the Government, ho thinks they should 3 go slow in future until the machinery has ', a chance to get oiled, and he favors preference to unionists. The Old Age Pensions ' Act he considers the most merciful measure ' passed by the New Zealand Legislature. r Kvery worker, whether State or otherwise, [ sliouid be able to look forward to a pen- ' snail. The Bible-in-schools question he " would have settled by a referendum, though \ personally he was opposed to the State in- * lerfering with religions liberty. The ques- ' tion of the abolition of the totalisator 5 should also I>> referred to a referendum. He declared himself iu favor of No-license, j A vote of thanks was passed. 1 The Clutha branch of the Farmers' ; Union accepted Mr A. S. Malcolm's pJat- [ form as being in accord with that of the Farmers' Union. * Speaking at FoxhiH (Nelson) Mr J Roderick M'Keneie said lie favored giving ' the freehold to all Crown tenants exoe-irt I those under the Land for Settlements Act . He also favored the abolition of leases in ]>erj>cruity, and the substitution of sixty to ninety years' leases. He opposed any alteration in the education system from a leli-rious point of view, and was also opposed to air elective Executive, but approved of the Legislative Council being made elective.