THE PRIME MINISTER.

Evening Star, Issue 13090, 24 October 1908, Page 7

THE PRIME MINISTER.

AN INTERVIEW. GENERAL ELECTION PROSPECTS. COST OF SECOND BALLOT. . . STREET TELEPHONES. ACCELERATED "MAIL SERVICES. ;. The Prime Minister, attended by Lady Ward, reached Dunedin by the second express lasi evening, and went on to Invercargill this morning. To a member of our staff who accompanied him as far as Mosgiel Sir Joseph accorded a short interview. He said that he had not been in Otago since the early part of June, but that he was delighted to be again in thia part of the Dominion, although his visit was necessarily limited. The prime object of his mission was to address his constituents. Ho proposed to hold a preliminary meeting at Waikiwi this evening, and to deliver his main address at Winton on Monday night. On Friday he would go right through from Invercargill to Temuka, speaking at night in reply to the Leader of, the Opposition, who was announced to review the Ministerial policy the previous evening. Sir Jcseph eays that the calls on his time till after the General Election are pressing. Besides having to deliver addresses in various parts of the Dominion, he has to take part in the opening of the Main Trunk line on November 5, and then go on to Christchurch for Carnival Week. —The Second Ballot.— Sir Joseph’s attention was drawn to the statement made by Mr Jeffries, Opposition i candidate for Timani, that the Second j Ballot Bill would necessitate some thirty j second polls being held, at a cost to the . country of £30,000. j The Prime Minister said in reply; The I statement that there ore likely to bs j thirty second ballots at the coming elec- j tion is ridiculous. People who make state- 1 ments of that sort can have very little j knowledge of the position of the different constituencies throughout the Dominion In my opinion, there will not be more than a dozen second polls at the utmost. To assume thaA the proportion Of cost of a second ballot will be the same as at the General Election shows an utter want of knowledge of the whole system in which elections are conducted in our country. Tho same ballot-papers are used, the same organisations that had been at work for 1 the Electoral Department for weeks ahead of the General Election are continued in existence for seven days, and tho rolls which were in force are used, no fresh , names being permitted to be added between! the first and second ballots. The suggestion that the second ballot is going to cost £30,000 is one of those wild statements of the exaggerated mind that one 1 can only marvel at its being seriously made. Even assuming—altogether improbable ns the idea is—that there will be a second poll in thirty electorates, the total allowance to sixty candidates again offering themselves would bo £3.000 (£SO per candidate is the statutory authorisation), ! and at tho very utmost the additional cost j to tho country would not be more than | £3.000. Thus, £6,000 for thirty second i ballots would bo much nearer the mark \ than £30,000. But, as already indicated, ; I anticipate that this expedient will not have to be resorted to in more than ten I or a dozen electorates. Asked whether he considered that the | Second Ballot _ Bill had minimised the j number of candidates offering, I Sir Joseph said: I am quite sacunsad that we have no more candidates under the existing system than we would have had under the old system. But what the Second Ballot has done is to prevent the putting up of a candidate merely for the purpose of diverting a portion of votes from another candidate, which has been a feature of every election in the past. I disagree entirely with those who argue that the Second Ballot system is in any way likely to affect the workers. Statements of this sort are made by those people who do not seem to realise that some of the strongest advocates for the Second Ballot were the workers themselves. Nor was there in the mind of anyone any intention to prejudicially affect Labor when introducing this reform. It is perfectly well known that practically since I entered politics I have been a believer in the principle of majority, and not minority, representation. The workers, as, indeed, any other class of the community, have the same opportunities of recording their votes on a second ballot as on a first. Everyone may be relied on to record his vote again, and to utilise it in favor of tho candidate the voter desires to see returned. ’. I regard the statement as merely a cry got up for a purpose, but, thinking the matter rationally out, I can see nothing to justify it. —The Westport Murder.— The Prime Minister said that the question of compensation to be paid to Halli.isn and the relatives of Andersen, wrongfully convicted of the murder of Bourke at Westport, had not yet bwn considered. This matter was to be dealt with at the first meeting of Cabinet. —The General Election.— Sir Joseph expressed himself quite opiimisticaHv as to the results of the polls on November 17. The Government would have their policy endorsed by the people. The writs would be issued on Saturday next or on the following Monday (after which, of loitrse, enrolment would cease), Parliament would bo dissolved a week later, and nominations would close on November 9. —Penny-in-the-slot ’Phones.— Among the postal reforms to be instituted are the introduction of penny-in-the-slot telephones in the principal streets of the centres. Authority has been given for the machines. —Voting Machines.— “ We cannot consent to the use of Dali’s voting machine,” said the Prime Minister, in reply to another question, “ because there is no legislation under which it can be done. We intend to have a trial given to the machine—probably at some municipal elections—as soon as wo can.” —The Member for Bruce’s Misstatements.— Sir Joseph said that Mr James Allen apparently had made several statements at Stirling that were not correct. He had stated, for instance, that although he (the speaker) had stated that the cost of tho new parliamentary buildings, Government House, and Government buildings would be £225,000, ho mado the total £405,000. What he did say. Sir Joseph explained, was that the new departmental buildings which were required and which had nothing to do with the destruction of the parliamentary buildings would cost £200,000. Mr Allen had based his statement in regard to £200,000 for the Government buildings on a wrong assumption. In dealing with national endowment land, Mr Allen had overlooked the fact that 5,000,000 acres of those lands were already leased for smalt grazing »nd pastoral runs, and under the law as it stood before the National Endowment law was passed there was no right to acquire the freehold. It was amusing to read Mr Allen’s excuses for the fact "that the Government had dean sheets as far as ‘he Auditor-General was concerned. The ansv/cr to the Treitiier’? criticism :h*t ho had a clean balanco-sheot now,'’ Mr Allen said, “was that owing to the criticism of _ the Opposition Parramcnt had recently brought the revenue o: these departments within the control of the Audit Department, and Parliament had amended- the law to permit iho accounts to be passed without’tho togs, and that was why they were not there now." Sir Joseph explained that if there was anything wrong with the Public Accounte it was clearly tho duty of tho AuditorGeneral to -say so, irrespective of criticisms by either the Opposition or tho party in power. Mr Allen’s statement that Parliament had amended the law to permit accounts to be passed without tags was quite contrary to the facta. It was the duty of the Auditor-General to attach a tag to any account when he believed that course should be taken. Thera was no law which directly or indirectly absolved the Auditor-General from attach-

Tog a tag to any account. He wished to draw attention to the position because it had been (he custom of some of the opponents of the Government to everlastingly declare that the Public Accounts required looking into, or that there was something in connection with the financial position that was not as it should be. If they could cnly specify a single instance it would he different; but they endeavored to create an impression by general remarks. He asked as a matter of common fairness that instances should be given before tho statements were made. It was clear enough to anv impartial critic that when the Audit 'Department did not direct special attention to any point which it was its duty to deal with there was nothing wrong, and the fact that tho department had not drawn attention to wrong was the strongest reply which could be given by the Government to criticisms in that direction. He had stated repeatedly during the nast three months that the position of the Public Accounts was remarkably strong. Provision had been made for the redemption of tho whole of tho moneys borrowed for Land for Settlement purposes by the creation of., a 1 per cent, sinking fund, and also for the redemption of what might bo termed dead loans in the shape of the total sum borrowed for war expenditure. There had also been paid of! £300,000 of floating debt, making a total of £700,000, and the fact remained that the railway and post office revenues and the general revenue for the present financial year was considerably ahead of the total for the same term of that year. An attempt had also been made to create an impression that the Government had increased taxation. It was not politically honest to the country. Ho challenged Mr Allen, or any other opponent of the Government, to point to a single law placed on the Statute Boole by the Government by which taxation had ben increased, except the Graduated Land Tax. Tf taxation had not been increased by legislation, how could the Government impose fresh taxation burdens on the people? Fortunately for tho country its trade hod increased, and there had been a gradual increase also in the spending power of the people, and in the amount of Customs revenue. He was afraid that the Government’s opponents were trying to make the sum stand still. Evidently if the Government mado it stand still, they would at once set themselves to prove ‘ that it did not stand still. —Mail Fervices.— To a further question, Sir Joseph said he recognised the justice of the complaints made regarding the delay in the Vancouver service owing to passengers and mails being takeq on to Brisbane. He was hopeful of arranging for a connecting boat at Suva. This, together with tho newly-arranged Tahiti service, would mean a fortnightly mail service.