ON THE WARPATH

Gisborne Times, 31 October 1928, Page 5

ON THE WARPATH

MR. LYSNAR OPENS HIS CAMPAIGN. STRONG DEFENCE OF REFORM GOVERNMENT. HOW IT HAD NEGOTIATED DIFFICULT TIMES. PRACTICALLY UNANIMOUS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE. A good humored gathering of fully 300 at the City Hall last night heard the Reform candidate for the Gisborne seat, Mr. W. D. Lysnar, open his campaign. The proceedings were, at times, very lively, a running fire of interjections being kept up, but the candidate scored off the hecklers with quick repartee. At the conclusion lie was accorded a vote of thanks and confidence, there being only a' few dissentients. Introducing the candidate, Mr. A. Wade isaid that he did not think there was a better known gentleman in New Zealand to-day than Mr. Lysnar. He was a particularly strong man and there was' never a time in the history, of the Dominion when strong men' were, more required to control the country. In the Houso Mr. Lysnar had always taken part in the debates and no one spoke more frequently, which ; of' course, meant the ventilation of all subjects of interest to the district and Dominion. A district of this kind had much to he thankful for in having a man ,of the integrity of Mr. Lysnar to represent it, he declared. Greeted with applause, on rising to commence his address, Mr. Lysnar expressed pleasure at meeting again his constituents on the eve of another election. He dcsir.ed to warn them, in the first place, of the danger of triangular contests, in which, until tho numbers were hoisted, the result was always in doubt, and, therefore, it behoved, all the electors to exercise their franchise on polling day. If the electors went to the poll as they should, ho would have every confidence.

Explaining his candidacy, Mr- 'Lysnar declared that he stood in exactly the same position. as he had always done.—an Independent .Reformer. He noticed that Mr. Clayton was very concerned as to the position in which he .stood, but the speaker emphasised that he was occupying exactly the same platform as he had done when he first solicited their suffrages. He was pleased to be an Independent as bo felt that he could perform better work for the district and the Dominion in that capacity. He placed the district and the country before party, and he proposed to pursue that course until the. end. He bad had ail opportunity during the 1923 Parliament of putting the Reform Government, which bad only two of a majority, out of power, and had been promised support by Col. A. Bell, another Independent, if he opposed the Government but, at that time, ho saw no better party offering to take over the reins of Government and, therefore, refrained from taking action. Ho asserted that he would never lie party to put the Government out to put the Extreme Labor Party into power. “I am out to fight tho extreme labor element,” be added. A voice: “There is no Extreme Labor Party.” ’ “That’s all rubbish,” retorted Mr. Lvsnar warmly. “I’ll show you later on there is, even though it is now hiding and camouflaging itself. (Laughter and uproar.-; Another voice: “It docsn t matter about Mr. Coleman. Get on with vour address.” (Laughter.) Proceeding, Mr. Lysnar stated that there had always been a section of the people in this district opposed to him, and this had been evident when he had Been Mayor. Now, when this opposition was demonstrated m politics, lie boro his opponents n<s grudge, so long as they were fair. There was another section of the people that attributed all manner Of action to him in connection with the construction of the Gisborne-Wairoa section of the railway. He maintained than he had merely done his duty by the district in any action he had taken on this subject and, personally, lie felt a clear conscience. He claimed that his political stocks were as good to-day as ever. A voice (amidst laughter): “That’.® not saying much.” “Ob’. I don’t know,” retorted Mr, 'Lysnar. “I had a clear majority over the other two candidates at the last election and 150 votes besides. If 1 can maintain that position, I will be satisfied, (Applause.) Air. Lysnar referred to the other two candidates for the Gisborne seat-, explaining that he had refrained from opening his campaign up to the present to allow his opponents to open up m town, to show where he had erred and where they could have done better. Instead, the other contestants had merely skirmished in the country and had l not given their full platform. In fact, one candidate had explained to one gathering that, if he could find timei, he would outline the rest of his platform later. (Laughter.) Mr. Lysnar offered hts congratulations to the press for the manner in which an account of Iris stewardship had bfeen presented to the' public. The papers had got the kernel or matters dealt with in the House and then submitted them very well, he said ~ , A voice: “Yes.; for you.- (Langhtor.) , , . Mr Lysnar declared than Ins opponents should have opened their campaigns in Gisborne and placed, all their cards on the table., but perhaps, they were frightened of their cards and had no policy and wanted to follow him and criticise hikn. The Dominion had passed through a period of great financial stress m the past three years, said Mr. .Lysnar, but it had now “turned the cornei and was moving steadily towards prosperity, and, if the electors did the right thing in keeping a stable Government in power, that progress would continue, otherwise the. Dominion would retrogress and stagnate. The country’s prosperity wals entirely in the hands, of tho electors He referred to the increase of trade under Reform’s administration and stated that the last official figures showed that the exports had increased by millions iin the past twelve months in addition to a similar increase in the previous year. He compared the trade of the Dominion under the Libel ai regime in 1912 with the trade under the Reform Government m f 928 ;* 11 the former vear the trade was £42,747,000 and 'in the past twelve months the returns were £99,381,000., _nie trade per head of population in was £39 5s 3d, compared with £bJ S 7d in 1928. : Again, the Commonwealth’s tradq in 1927 was £SO 13s od, compared with New Zealandl s PC4 ]6s 7d per head l ot population in same year. Woof meat had increased from £12,000, Out) to £44,000,000 in 1928. . . ■ A voice: “But you don t give us the difference in the spending power 0t “No,”'said Mr. Lysnar, “I’m not on those figures. I’ni showing how trade has increased.’ He added that the value of live stock had increased from £31,000,000 to £83,000,000 m the intervening 16 years, and the bank returns were equally good A voice: “For the shareholders:”

“I S mean bly the bank returns the deposits showing the prosperity ot the country,” said Mr. Lysnar. A voice: “What does the working 'man got?” - -, ~ ,' ~ ~ “He gets a fan- cut,” retorted Mr. Lysnar amidst laughter _ The candidate declared that he aid, not claim that the Rdf ohn Party had done all it should have done; A voice : “Hear, hear.” (Laughter.) Mr. Lysnar:.“But I say the Reform Party is the best in sight and 1 'A .. . ,•

think Mr. Coates is a very promising Prime Minister and lias done exceedingly well.” A voice: “Oh, rot-.” Air. Lysnar declared that, if tho Reform Party was returned to power, he was satisfied that the country would get more work but of Mr. Coates. It was the party that was keeping Mr. Coates back from introducing much needed reforms. Ho knew, that from experience, and knew that, although Air*. Coates had much power as Prime Minister he could not control all .the members of his party. “Nobody can get all tliey want. I’ve been battling and I can’t get all I want.” (Laughter.) He declared that the Reform Party could best bo trusted to adopt the safest course. A voice: “You are not Reform.” “I’m more Reform than' you,’” retorted Air. Lysnar. (Laughter and applause.) Air. Lysnar referred to thejtrourf lous times that had. beset. the v ßoform Government since it first too-lc office in 1912, there being the strike tho first year and then tho war and its aftermath, difficulties of mortgage extension and soldier settlement and rent restrictions. Unemployment, too, had been very troublesome', and the Government, to relieve the distress, had increased the number of men employed on relief work from 5,000 to 11,000.- _ . .; .... The - candidate for the United Party, said Mb. Lysnar, had not outlined its policy, so there was no need for him to dwen on it, beyond referring to tho big loan of £70,000,000 proposed by Sir Joseph Ward. Everyone, ho said, would like to securo cheap money, -but he wanted to know how it was proposer! to raise, tliat huge sum at so low a rate of interest when other Dominions could not do so. WHAT THIS DISTRICT OWES THE GOVERNMENT.

Touching upon the requirements of the district, Mr. Lysnar pointed out that a Land Board and a health office had been established here, and a good southern outlet road had been provided that would be a credit to any Government. The people had been, compelled to wallow in the qnagmii© of the Liberals before the Reform Government, came and provided good t-oa’ding access. The route would ultimately lie tar-sealed from Gisborne to Napier, and for that work the Hon. K. S. AVilliams, Sir A. T. Ngata and he shared the credit. The hydro-electric scheme at AVaikaremoana was practically accomplished. A voice: “Tell us about Arapuni.” (’Laughter.) Air. Lysnar: “Let’s talk about our own affairs before meddling in anyone else’s.” The progress at AVaikaremoana was due to the Reform Government, and a statement prepared fpr the Prime Alinister showed that in 1940 the annual surplus from all the hydro-electric schemes would_ ho £8,000,000, and the Dominion would be served with power at a reduced rate comparable with that of other countries with which New Zealand’s secondary industries would he competing. NATIONALISTS OPPOSED TO RAIL4VAY FOR GISBORNE.

Referring to the railways, Mr. Lysnar maintained that the solution ot the problems of non-paying lines was to equip the trains with electnv batteries, which would cost practically pothing to charge, and would reduce the staffing. He touched on the question of the construction of the Gisborne-Wairoa section of the railway, stating that such action he had taken was at the request of the Chamber cf Commerce, which desired to see the .inland route properly surveyed, Personally, he considered the railway should be constructed inland, and that Gisborne should he linked up with Rotorua, thus tapping tho large Government afforestation areas en route. A railway should _ aim primarily at development, and if it would pay 3 per cent, he claimed: that it would justify itself. The official reiiorts showed that an inland lino through this district would pay 3£ per cent. ~ He stated that a Government exploration party in 1923 had made a survey of the Rot orua-Gis borne line, which, if proceeded with, would tap the Urewera country and the large Government forests which now required to lie thinned out. The inland route was now Icing surveyed, and he desired to see the line constructed on whatever route the experts thought best after considering all the data. He denied the charge made by Mr. Clayton that he had held up the construction of the railway. Personally, he blamed the Engineer-in-Chief for stopping the construction of the line inland in the first place beyond Ngatapa because of a slip that never materialised. He. had watched carefully the expenditure on the Na-pier-Wairoa section and had seen the allocations increased from £232,000 in 1925 to £324,000 in 1927-28, and at present -509 men were engaged in construction. The only people who had threatened to stop the construction were, first, the Nationalists and,,, secondly, the Laborites. Mr. Forbes, one-timei leader of those who were now the United Party, had declared that the work should be stopped' Mr Clayton in his mischievous and short range of mind had conceived some idea that the Rotorua-Taupo line was being started at the expense of the Gisborne- Wairoa line. That was not so. There had been no delay on the Wairoa-Napier line, on which nearly all the formation worn had! been done so that the 500 men now engaged there should he transferred to this end soon. A billiard saloon keeper in Gisborne had declared that the Prime Minister had made some ridiculous promise concerning the railway* construction .if the Reform party were supported. No such undertaking had been given, neither had the Hon. Mr Williams promised that the inland survey report would be available before the elections. THE ANGORA PAR GIT FARM It seemed that Mr Clayton ■ was trying to get a foot in by innuendoes nncli half truths, said Mr Lysnar, in referring to the statement that in Rotorua-Taupo railway was being built because his brother, Mr F. J. Lysnar, was a director in a company formed ’ for the purpose of breeding rabbits in the Taupo country. Mr Clayton was trying to mislead with that statement, said Mr Lysnar. Mr Clayton knows that the scheme is not to breed ordinary rabbits, but Angora rabbits. There was no truth that the company wanted to breed ordinary rabbits. ‘‘You’ve got to brush Angora rabbits every day like a racehorse, otherwise the fur becomes matted,” he added amidst la,lighter. A voice: “is there anything in the prospectus to suggest that the scheme is to breed Angora rabbits ?” “I haven’t seen the prospectus,” replied Mr, Lysnar. But Mr Clayton knew perfectly well that it was to breed! Angora* rabbits. The railway to be built, would not be anywhere near the farm for breeding these rabbits. Tactics such as these were too miserable for words, he said, and if votes had to he coquetted for in this way and obtained by innuendoes, lie urged the electors to vote for Mr Clayton and! not for himself. Mr Lysnar went on to sa-v that Mr Clayton had’ also made a personal attack that was a slander on Mr Coates. A voice : “You’re afraid of him. —(Laughter.) “No I’m not,” retorted Mr Lysnar, -heatedly. Mr Clayton had accused the Premier of having a swollen head, hut it was only Mr Clayton who had the swollen head. “We don’t, want personalities at this campaign,” remarked Mr Lysnar- amidst uproarious laughter. . No one was keener than he, Mr Lysnar said, to obtain better conditions of land settlement. It had been insinuated by Mr Clayton that

improper motives had been fised to purchase To Wera. Personally, however, He/ considered the purchase a go'od! one and believed that if the meat arid wool were stabilised the land would soon be taken up. He had suggested for the improvement of settlement of land that the Imperial Government should ho risked to provide two-thirds, of . the capital required for the purchase of blocks of settled land and the establishment of experienced immigrants thereon, lie , pointed out tiiat, under the latest amendment of the Land Settlement Act, the Government would advance 95 per cent, of capital to applicants who wished to go on the landi.

A voice : “Where will you .get the landi*’’ . :

Mr Lysnar: “There’s any God’s quantity of it,”—(Laughter.) “But where:"’ queried the interjector. “You.won’t get it sitting on that seat,” retorted the candidate, amidst laughter. The Government, he . said, had undertaken to find £1,000,000 to assist applicants in the purchase of land/. •

RELIGIOUS EXERCISES IN SCHOOLS. “Bible in Schools” was a misnomer. It should be “Religious exercises in schools,” said Mr Lysnar, in •touching on this subject. “Do you believe .in that?”, asked an interjector. “Yes, I do,” retorted Mr Lysnar. The candidate declared that there was less liability of a wrong arising in religious instruction of children than in the secular education in the past. The passages of the Bible quoted in the lessons and hymns and the Lord’s Prayer, must 'be approved by the associated churches. There could be no hann in prayers in schools. “Why pray?” asked an in ter jector. “I’m sorry that man put that question. That’s what the Bolsheviks say. When I get on to this Bolshevist stuff you come along. I’ll give you something. Let’s take a leaf from the Catholic schools and open and close with prayer,’’ added Mr JLysnar. In the development of the country Mr Lysnar said l that the cities and boroughs were progressing faster cTian the country, which was due to The aftermath of the war, and high taxation, the latter being the factor retarding the producers and the country’s prosperity. He declared that the present Government had done a great deal to reduce taxation and' its attendant evil, unemployment, and it was acting on the best lines, tie believed that the flat rate on the land was the best, but, if Mr Holland’s idea of a steeper-graded tax was put into etfect, it would hit the working man very hard. Mr Lysnar claimed credit for stonewalling the Mental Defectives Bill last session, because of its obnoxious clauses. “For the last three weeks in Wellington I was not in bed/ before 2 a.m. A voice: “Ah!”—(Laughter.)

Mr Lysnar referred to the Arbitration Act, saying that there should he classification of workers according to ability. He cited the Shop Assistants’ Act. which fixed the rates of pay for assistants according to age and not experience—a principle which required to be altered.—(Applause.) QUESTION TIME.

A number of written questions were submitted to the candidate. Questioned as to whether he would support a commission of inquiry into borough affairs, Mr Lysnar sai- i. tho burgesses applied for a commission he would he bound to back thorn up. .

Replying to another question he said he considered the electoral law was satisfactory as it stood and saw no reason for compelling electors to vote as in New South Wales. Mr L ysnar declared that he believed in providing free school books for poor children and also their standardisation, and distribution from a central depot, this dispensing with the miserable system of having different books in each education district as at present. Answering another inquiry, Mr Lysnar said that, during the last session he had been instrumental in having the Chattels Security Bill amended, so that onlv the stock named in the schedule were included in the security.

Further/ tho candidate announced his opposition to fixing the salaries of P. and I'. officers by arbitration, unless it could be shown that civil servants received a worse standard of pay than ruled generally outside the service. Neither did he _ agree that there should he a minimum wage fixed for P. and T. officers of 21 years of age. In answering another question, he announced his opposition to Government interference with private enterprise, and said he had objected strongly to any semblance of such action = in connection with the Afeat and Dairy Boards. Air Clayton claimed the Government was inter fering in electrical supplies, but the speaker was totally unaware of any such action.

Replying to a not hot question, Mr Lysnar claimed that, one of the causes of unemployment was the high land tax, the solution being to reduce the taxation and to make money available under long term mortgages. - Asked how he reconciled his attitude towards monopolies with his attitude towards the liquor traffic, Mr Lysnar said that if the majority favored Continuance he intended fighting to have tho business put .on the best possible basis and for that purpose had introduced eleven amendments to the Bill before tho House last session. “is there not a difference between, will power and pig-headedness ? Did not Mr Coleman show his fair-mind-edness in admitting his mistake about the trams?” was another question. “When a man gives Iris word publicly he should stick to it,” replied Mr Lysnar. Asked if he considered too much money was being spent on secondary education, Mr Lysnar said lie considered there was too much expenditure in outside administration and buildings, which were too elaborate. • Answering a budget of questions from a women’s organisation, Air Lysnar declared lie favored the appointment of women police working in the interests of the children. He had no objection to women on juries, lie had not yet considered the question of establishing, colonies for sexual offenders. It might be all right. He considered it would be advisable to have a woman on the Prisons Board to deal with female offenders, and he also agreed' with the appointment of a woman on the proposed Board of Film Censors. Questioned further. Air Lysnar said he had interviewed the Minister of Education concerning the rebuilding of the Central School infant department, and was assured that lie money would) he forthcoming. lie considered it likely that the work would start early next year.. He declared, in answer to another question, that he was .in favoi of an agricultural training scliooi .or preliminary work for Poverty Bay, but did not think the-district could afford an Agricultural College. He asserted also that' he did' not favor a State bank, but favored the granting of long-term mortgages and contended that the - Government should be the issuing authority for all motes. r Air C. G. Bloore moved a vote oi thanks to Mr Lysnar and confidence in him as’member for Poverty Bay,