THE PLEGE-KEEPERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3773, 10 November 1914, Page 5

THE PLEGE-KEEPERS.

STIRRING SPEECH BY THE

GOVERNMENT'S ACCOUNT OF ITS STEWARDSHIP.

PREMIER.

HOW THE DOMINION’S AFFAIRS WERE STRAICHTENED OUT.

ALL PROMISES KEPT RUT TWO

THESE WILL BE ATTENDED TO

[PEESS ASSOCIATION TEDECEIM-l PAPAKURA, Nov. 9. The Prime Minister opened the political campaign here this evening, when he addressed a large and representative meeting in the Papakura Town Hall.

Mr A. Willis (Chairman of the Town Board) presided. The seating accommodation was overtaxed and many of those present had to be content with standing room. Many were also standing outside the door. Mr Massey received a very enthusiastic reception and hearing. On entering the hall, ho was received with loud and continued applause, and as lie rose to speak he . was greeted with cheers and renewed applause. After reviewing the industrial troubles, last year’s epidemic, and the war, Mr Massey said the outlook for our primary products had never been better than at present, and there was a tremendous demand for New Zealand meat, and wool, and every product which this country was m the habit of exporting. Mr Massey went on to outline what had been done to provide New Zealand with wheat and flour. In that connection he said that, in addition to the quarter of a million bushels ordered from Canada, he had been in negotiation with the Government oi India for a similar quantity from there. RAILWAY IMPROVEMENT SCHEME.

Dealing with the railway proposals of the new General Manager (Mr Hiley), the Prime Minister said that last season the Government had been deluged with complaints from all over New Zealand regarding insufficient- rolling stock. In Mr .Massey s opinion, the Dominion was shorter of engines than anything else. In Auckland the accommodation for passenger traffic wa« bad enough, but they were miles ahead of the provisions for handling of goods, which were shocking. Wellington was probably worse. The railway business in Auckland had doubled in the last eight years, and, in all probability, would doitb'e again in the next eight years. He believed in forming branch and trunk railways, but if it was not possible to handle the goods at the termini they would soon be in difficulties. It was astonishing the amount of opposition Mr Riley's scheme had aroused. On the division, however, only 20 members of the House had had the courage of their opinions to vote against the Bill. It was now the law of the land. A Voice: What about Arthur Myers?

Mr Massey: Ob, lam not the keeper of Air Myers’ conscience. GOOD COMMERCIAL OUTLOOK. Mr Massey said that before the outbreak of the war the Dominion was » a particularly prosperous condition, and. during the two years that the present Government had been in office the exports bad been increased by no less than five million pounds worth. When the war came to an end he believed that New Zealand, with her enormous resources, her good climate, the industry of her population, and the many natural advantages, would recover from the effects of tlie war more rapidly than any other portion of the British Empire. PROBLEM OF NAVAL DEFENCE. The Prime Minister then referred to the question of naval defence, which, lie saxl, should not be treated as a party question. What bad taken place during tne last few weeks had convinced the bulk of the population that New Zealand should do a great deal more in regard to naval defence than we now are doing—(hear, hear). He referred to what had taken place at Papeete and said that this might have happened to any oi the towns on the sea board of New Zealand. He referred to the non . . on.pOaiice- —either through inability or unwillingness—on the part of tb. Home Government with the Naval A '"c;ment entered into in 1909, and said that, although the- present Government had. offered to increase the annual subsidy by £•30,000 if the Imperial authorities would carry out the agreement, the offer did not have the desired effect. During the first few weeks of the war, New Zealand had been greatly indebted to the Australian Navy for its valuable service to New Zealand in particular and the Empire in general —(applause). He believed that wc were now out of the wood so far as the danger of immediate attack by sea was concerned, but we should profit by the experience of the past- few weelcs. It would be criminal to allow the present state of things to continue. He was not going to quibble as to whether the ships should be Im-perial-owned or New Zealand-owned, but the position must be faced. The numbers of the present Government, during the past few weeks, had had tremendous responsibilities upon their shoulders and he for one would not care to go through the same experience again. He repeated his previous reference to the debt of gratitude that we owed to the Australian Government for the protection that we had received from the ships of the Commonwealth Naw during the past few months.—(Hear, hear).

THE NEW EDUCATION ACT.

In speaking of the new Education Act passed last session, Mr Massey said that the object of the Minister for Education and the Government in introducing this measure was that New Zealand should become one of the best-educateu countries in the world. —(Hear, hear). This was necessary if New Zealand was to bold her own in competition with the other countries of the world. In the past there had been a. reluctance c:i the part of their young men to take nn the teaching profession, but the betterment. in the conditions of the teachers which had been brought about by the new Act would remove this reluctance and improve the lot of the teachers.

THE GOVERNMENT'S PLEDGES

Mr Massey then dealt with the charges made by the Opposition that tne present Government had not kept its "election pledges, but, save in two instances, all pledges had been kept. In the first place, the Government Had pledged itself to keep borrowing within reasonable bounds, and to prevent wasteful expenditure. . Tins p‘edg'3 had been- kept. The Government had also pledged itself to carry cat a freehold po icy and tins pledge had also been kept. Ihe present Government had provided settlers with all reasonable facilities fer getting on the land on a satisfactory t-inure! ' The pledge in regard to the limitation of holdings had also been kept. A Voice: What about the Advances to He'tiers ? Did you not vote against that ? Mr Massey: 1 did. For the very good reason that I was pledged to vote against borrowing in any shape or form. When I went back to my constituents and told them what I had done, they said “Well done, good and faithful servant.” —(Laughter and applause).

NATIVE LAND LEGISLATION

The Government had also, Mr Massey continued, kept its pledges in regard. to Native land legislation A, Its aiin was 46 plaeo the Natives in th© game position as the Europeans, with

the same privileges and responsibilities, and that was what they were doing. They wanted to make the Native® good citizens of tho Empire. The Maoris were taking up the responsibilities of the Empre, and 500 of them were now being trained for service as soldiers- In this connection, he was glad to say that the Imperial Government now consented to allow ibe whole 500 to go to the one destination" insteacP'of dividing them as at first intended.

THE REFORM OF THE COUNCIL

Amongst other pledges kept, he continued, was that to reform tne Legislative Council by making it elective- He believed that the system of election provided for would prove more suitable than the Australian system. The pledge in regard to public service reform had also been kept. The Government had "remised to provide for a reform of the system ol local Government by an abolition oi the present method of Parliamentary grants and a Bill to this effect had been introduced last session. Owing, however, to the delay occasioned b.y the war, it had been necessary to allow tho Bill to stand over, but lie hoped it would be passed next session. In regard to town planning, the Government had provided for all that was necessary and he looked forward to doing something in this direction with the jOrakei estate that would he a credit to the Dominion. The pledges in regard to amendments of the pension scheme (including the reduction cf the qualifying age of women from Oo to 60) had been fulfilled. The pledge in regard to compulsory insurance against sickness and unemployment had not been yet fulfilled, because the Government desired'to see the scheme introduced in Great Britain have a fair trial. Tho Government was also pledged to. bring about industrial peace, and it had gone a long way towards doing that by providing that no strike should take place without a secret ballot being taken under the supervision of Government officers. —(Hear, hear). Thus all pledges except two had been kept. It was not reasonable ’o expect that during the short term of one Parliament much more would have been done than to lav the foundation stone of a policy, but the Government had dono much more than t n at. —{A p . LAND SETTLEMENT RECORD. it- had been stated by one member the other day that the present Government had not put a single settler on the land. —(Laughter). To show him how incorrect this was, he quoted from a departmental return showing that from July 1, 1912, to September •‘3O, 1914, 2964 settlers had taken up land on settlement conditions, and that pastoral runs and miscellaneous tenures had been created for 1584 more, making a total of 4548. In addition, 239 persons had taken up endowment land leases. The total area of land opened ,or sale or selectionfrom July, 1912,- to October 31. 1914, was no less than 1,247,894 acres.— (Applause). In its first session, the Government had provided for an increase of the graduated Land Tax on ail estates of the »aiue of £30,000 and over. The good effect of this was becoming apparent in the number of subdivisions. From the Ist of April, 1912. to June 30, 1914, the total number of Subdivisions of rural land and land made available for closer settlement was 6196. representing 1,125,078 acres. Ten estates had been acquired for closer settlement. Altogether, during tlie time the Government had been in office, 1.94i5,.G3 a-crc-s in both privately-owned and Crown lands had been subdivided an-o , settled. During the year 1913-4 the ! area acquired by the Government for ; settlement was 141,062 acres, as against only 13.393 acres in 1910-li i during the regime of the late Government. The total number cf selectors who had purchased the fee simple of their leases under the Acts passed by tne Massey Government was l-Q r ; the totai area involved being 2(52.»92 acres, whilst the sum paid was £230,958. —( Appla use).

REFORM GOVERN MEN T' S ACHIEVEMENTS.

The Prime Minister went on to refer to the setting up of the Commission to inquire into the working if the Valuation Department. What the Government sought was taxation on fairWaluation of property, exempting the improvements. If it was found this was not being done now, he would take care, if returned to power, that it was done in the future. — (Applause). Since the Reform Government came into office, they had set up a system of workers; rural homes. Soine of these were in occupation and, in many cases, the occupiers were doing well. In all. there were four settlements in hand —two in the North and two in the South island. Referring to local bodies, Mr Massey said it was proposed next year to give municipalities and counties the opportunity of borrowing from the State for the purpose of workershomes. The previous Government had in 61 years erected 209 workers homes at- a cost of £146.622. The present Government, by the end of the financial year (March 31 next) would have erected 345 workers homes in 2J years at an expenditure of £101,632. As in the case of land settlement, therefore, lie thought his Government’s record was a particularly good one. —(Applause). The present Government had paid for Native land in 1913 the sum of £61,029, and in 1914 £257,711.

NEXT MONTH’S LIABILITIES.

The Prime Minister proceeded to deal with the financial position, showing how the Government, had improved it since they came into power. Next m*nth, he said, the Government had to find £3,000,000 to pav to. creditors in London, who would neither convert nor renew their loans. A Voice: We’ll find it. Mr Massey: We have found it. These lenders, he said, were speculators who wanted to force the New Zealand Government into the . open market, but they were not going ' o be forced into the open market. He could not- tell them yet where the Government had got it, but. they had got the money and the London creditors would be paid that £3,000,000 on the due date, next month. —(Applause). Reference followed to the Government’s action in raising the limits of the borrowing power of settlers. (living to the war. these had had to be cut down, but now onward the limit to settlers would be £750, and he believed that in a few weeks it .rou'd he possible to raise the limit to £lo3o'. (Applause). AMOUNT LENT BY THE GOVERNMENT.

In the seven months from April 7 last Hie Government Advances Department had lent to settlers the sum of £839 570, to-workers £213,730, and m local authorities £135.325. In adI’tiri. there w ere sums advanced'by Em Public Trustee and the Governnr”t Insurance officers.

T'-e P—Tne Minister then briefly reviewed his Government’s, legislation for the workers, mentioning the increase of £120.003 per annum in wages to •railway worker® and of £IB,OOO to public servants.

CHOICE BEFORE THE ELECTORS. Concluding a speech of about :.n hour and three-quarters, Mr Missiy said: “We are naw on the eve of the general elections, and it is for the people to choose who shall eoudiit public affairs. On the one side von have a. set of men—-able, sincere straight-going anu upright—who have been criticised, but with whom no serious fault can be found —(loud cheers) —men who are not perfect—for they have made mist-Uros —and you havt> got to choose between these men ant o, set of men who, if they secure a majority,. ivill" have to pipe the >tu/i<> played to them by six or eight Rea

Feds.—(Cheers, and ‘ironical hughfcer). I leave it to the people —and I have not the slightest doubt they will cboo.se fairly and well.” —(Renewed cheers).

CONFIDENCE HEARTILY EXPRESSED.

A vote of thanks to the Prime Minister and of confidence in him and in Hie Government was moved by a member of the audience and promptly seconded. Cheers testified to the popularity of the motion and a venturesome person who called for three cheers for Sir Joseph Ward was energetically howled down, some one remarking of the Leader of the Opposition “Oh, he fs counted.out” and, on the motion being put, it -was carried amidst a storm of cheering, about half-a-dozen dissentient, voices being raised.