POLITICAL ADDRESS

Grey River Argus, 28 May 1914, Page 6

POLITICAL ADDRESS

AIR. L- M. ISITT AT Tlj'K TOWN HALL. . AN EXCELLENT RECEPTION. Last night Mr. L. M. Isitt, M.P., delivered •.1 political address in the Town Hall The building was crowd ed to the doors, and the speaker was accorded a most flattering reception ; and his remarks were punctuated with heirty applause. Not a '■single interruption was made during the evening-. Mr. H. F. Doog-an presided in the oneninir part of the meeting, until the Mayor who was detained at another meeting was able to take his place Mr. Isitt. who was enthusiastically received, said that he had to thank them for the hearty reception they had given him. He had appeared before in Greymouth, but then he had spoken on Prohibition, but now he spoke on general political questions. INDEPENDENT LIBERALlie had been asked why he who stood as an Independent was. now advocating the Liberal Pa,rty. He had not stood as an Independent. That was a fiction of the Conservative Press. He had stood as an Independent Liberal. He. had promised to assist Sir Joseph Ward to keep in office, and if Sir Joseph was to be defeated and the Conservatives came into office, to assist to put them out again. "AGIN< THE GOVERNMENT." He opposed the Conservative Party because of the tactics they adopted to secure power, and that was the chief reason why he opposed them. He wished the audience to study some ancient history. The Conservatives had been in the cold shades of Opposition for twenty-five years, and *hey should be there yet. A CAMPAIGN OF CALUMNY, The Reformers could not yet any additional votes by attacking the Liberal Policy. They had to get sup port from the party that did not think that the Liberal Party went . far enough. In order <to get into power they had to forge a new weapon and that was slander. They said that Sir Joseph Ward was a rogue, that he took commission on the. loans he negotiated; that he filled the public offices with Catholics. He (the speak er) had the charges hurled at him wherever he spoke. Bribery, maladministration and corruption were the charges brought against Sir Joseph Ward. . They were made in a veiled > manner in the House, but outside'the-j house they were speaking more plainly. The Conservatives said: "Let us get into power and we will get at those pigeon holes." Only one thing could justify the tactics adopted by Mr. t Massey, and that was proving right up to the hilt those charges. Had they proved a single charge ' Let any Reformer present say which olthese charges, if any. had been proved. He had gone to Messrs tFowlds and Buddo and asked them tif there was any truth in the statement that Sir Joseph Ward had stuffed the Civil Service with Roman Catholics. Both said that there was not a shadow ot truth in it/ It was an utterly contemptible thing to introduce religion into a contest. Why were the people of Greymouth introducing religion into the struggle? Thtiy were 50 years be hind the times. They wanted whipping and putting to bed. The two newspapers should unite in putting this down. Both sides were as eQuaily to 'blame as the other. , Not only did the 'Massey Party absolutclv fail to justify any ot those slanders that they were foolish^ to utter and some of them to believe, but they never dared to attack the Liberal Policy. They attacked the Liberal Administration. The Liberals were accused of borrowing recklessly and spending recklessly. They were called by Hon J. Allen -".he scatter cash ministry/ but he had. never attempted to prove his assertions. The Reformers introducer 1 the pigeon nole 'principle again. Ttn.-v said, Put us in and we will reduce taxation, «top borrowing and not going- in for travelling. What was, the result? The annual expenditure! was on the increase. Taxation had, gone up 3s 4<J a head. He was not I going to adopt Tory tactics, and saythat there should be no borrowing and that the ministers should not travel, but why was it that the things) chat were wrong for the Liberals sh be ouite the thing when done by Mr! 1 Massey? / - Mr. Allen said when in Opposition that there were fictitious surpluses, s(ur pluses that existed were only, on papei When Mr. Allen became the Hon. J. Allen he went on the London market, and used these cooked surpluses 10 induce the London money lenders to lend money. ' He (the speaker) wan-i-ed any Reformer to get up and saythat it was a square deal. ' The Reformers were in the horns of a dilemma, and whichever way they took, it it was equally disfcreditable to Mr. Allen, Minister of Finance. Then the Liberals had been accused of introducing the mquitous system of doles by which money had been granted for roads here and bridges there in order to get votes. The. soul of -Mr. Massey burned to put an end to the dode system. , Mt. Russell had drafted ,a bill .to improve the system that existed of granting; imoney and Mr. Massey had admitted that i. had good points. This BiH had been left by the Mackenzie Government. Why did not Mr. Massey take up the bill! and improve it' and put'a istcp to the dole system. . - He (the speaker) was not' going to make any charges of Bribery and corruption. His statements would be concise and to the point. No man had done more to sweeten the electors by dolesf than Mr. Massey. who went scattering blank cheques round -the .country, and raining- promises on the upturned faces of, his admirers. According to Mr. Massey -ihisj predecessors had been scallywags. Mr Massey had said that the word Liberal had been so debased that hV .would be , ashamed. ?toj.be, called. hkiJah«MiE..A»vrf

one who took Mr. Massey f for a Liberal, commented- Mr, Isitt, must be either just going*" info an asylum or just coming- out. Look at the action of Mr. 'Massey who had taken down from the Prime Minister's residence the sign boaTd with the word "Awa- ' rua" and substituted a Maori name I meaning "Great Fighting War Chief." ' That showed the conceit of the man. ! Mr. Isitt then referred to the West- | port Harbour Board appointment, and I said that' "Mr. Fisher had promised I to ask the nominee to resign, but this i was impossible when there was a [ majority on the Committee of Inquiry. 1 who were members of the Reform Prty The nominee had been left where he was and the' Government had shirked further inquiry. The Royd Garlick appointment was then touched upon. .When, Mr. Allen was in the box ihe said that he was not .aware, when Mr. Garlick was appointed that Mr. Garlick was a candidate for the position, and yet a letter was produced showing that Mr. Allen knew '14 days beforeIn tne Cheviot district there was a Mr. Holden, a- Reformer } who had a lease^ that was falling" in. Some people asked that the section be put up for ballot. " The Land Board reported favourably, but Mr. Holdeih ob jected as it contained the only good road to his land. The land, sufficient for ia road was set aside, but the Lands Department then said, that the land was not large enough for ballot as it was' ai limestone reserve. It turned out that Mr. Holden had written > to the Mr. Massey asking him to interfere. Mr. Gibson, .a member of the Land Board objected to the interference and in his { place was put Mr. Gee. the son i-n- lav^ of Mr. Holden; the man who was trying- for tne section. The siection was then put up for auction where the men with the long- purse scored every time. The speaker then referred to what he termed the Rhode* business., which he said was a terrible affair. v !Mr. Rhodes- was one of those who ratted on the Liberad Party. The history of the transaction was then traced. The freehold of 0000 acres was granted to Mr. Rhodes, but the freehold was not granted far the same quantity of land; in Greymouth. There were 26,000 acres of similar- iland in Mt. Atmore's district, but the freehold ha,d not been granted for it. He said emphatically ' that the Rhodes transaction alone was sufficient to shake the faith of fair minded persons in the Massey Government. He (the speaker) had told Mr. Massey again and again that he represented the big .land owners; and 1 Mr. Massey had denied it. 'A return had been prepared of all those holding 'land of ,£20,000 unimproved value or more in New Zealand. He had offered to give is to the Auck land Hospital for every name there re cognised as ■ a prominent supporter^ of Massey, if any of that party, would 'give 6d-to Christchurch Hospi tal for every name of -a Liberal sup 1 porter, t>ut none-oi the party would accept the challenge. Mr. Massey with a. pious look on his face said that he did not bet. Some working men weie talking nonsense when they said' that they .could not see any difference between the Liberals *and the Massey Party.. Those who said this were blind in one eye- 'and deaf in the other. The inquiry into the „ Public Trust by the Commission was then touched upon. When asked why neT did not publish a report the Minister had said that there was none, and yet the report was \ afterwards published in extenso by the New . Zealand Times; The reason , why the report was not published was because the legal work done by tbej Public Trust had Saved the country the sum -of .£IO,OOO. A number of clauses wer© afterwards eliminated from the Act -at the request of the Law Society. jWas that a square deal? It showed- that the Government were tiie supporters ot monopolies. * In the Budget of 1912, the Massey Government promised to abolish the second ballot and give preferential voting. "Yfet Mr fMassey afterwards said that after consultation with his colleagues he could} not find any subIptitutje! for M. iWhy idid h© break that , promise ? Because he could no' do otherwise, unless he broke his poli tical neck. Now nothing was heard of proportional representation or preferential voting. Mr. Massey broke his promise because he knew, that he* had not the majority behind him. \ The Liberal and Labour, votes would smother him out. He therefore abolished the second ballot so that his nominees could -slip in. The Bill for the abolition of the second ballot was brought down an the middle of the strike to mate people., believe that the Opposition was trying to hamper the Government at the time of the strike Mr .Massey had said that the stonewall^ was stopped because he had f hreatened a dissolution. This, said Mr - Isitt, was a deliberate, . wilful, froaen ftermMnodogacal inexactitude. Mr Isitt then, proceeded to criticise the legislation of the present Govern ment. He referred to Native Land legislation, and said that measures, were being forced through in spite ot the. Natives' protest. The Natives' representative had been ousted" from his position on, the Boand. The speaker then gave the history of the. Native land transactions. Men who had been holding land at 2s an acre from the Natives, were sub-letting it up to ( 45 s an acre. Here was the chance for Mr Herries, the Father of the- Native people. Sixteen .thousand acres were falling In, and* the Natives were required to. pay an acre' for improvements, were required for this and the Natives had, not the money.' They went -to, Mr. Herries for the money. He told them that he would not lend the money,and that they must either, grant the holders an additional 10 vearS* lease or'-sell to him land for cash. Those who knew the spendthrift habits of the Native knew what a perafcious' law this must be. ' The subtenant was not considered. 'It was' the u}6n^.whp was paying;, 1 2s . an^ acr* 1 ,; /*!/hr«P^tterfisl£xWM&-

Mr Isitt' then went on to refer- to the Labour question, and he warned his hearers that he would say things that would not please everyone. The ilabour question from start to finish was a religious question. He was told he was a Socialist, but ho had ; . learned his Socialism from the man Christ Jesus. The Labour question was the most important of all religious questions. . The religion that had no love" for humanity could not say that it had a love for God. The man who had no -feeling for the disabilities, the wrongs of. the oppressed and the weak had no; real religion in him. If there is a God at all, a bene ficient God, the source of mercy He .will never persist in a social condition that gives the maximum of the pleasures of life to the minority and all the hardships 'of life to the majority. There was no short cut "to La bour ideals, and if the workers sought; their reforms by syndicalism, and re volutionary action instead of legislation .they were damaging their own : cause The saddest blunder that had ever been perpetrated by the workers was the strike. The unworthy section of the employers had forced the work ers into a .strike! ' The snare was there and the bird ' fell into ;it, and they committed the- great blunder that filled their friends with dismay. The unwise ones were allowed to lead, and the workers gave way to disorder and thus assisted the cause of their enemies. If the Labour people had restrained themselves nothing would more have discredited their opponents. Let them learn, the lesson. The Labor votes were 5 to every 3. Let them then proceed on sane lines ; but let them not have too much zeal for the material part. No perma nent reform • could benefit a people unless it was based on religious grounds. The building up of character was the only thing that could produce real good. The mere adding to salary was ot no good to them. So long ?.s he was in Parliament he would fight monopoly and privilege and try and bridge the gulf between the privileged few and, the oppressed majority. Mr Massey wanted the Liberals and Labour to turn their guns on each other. The two parties should combine and oust the Conservative party. Some people thought that Liberalism had not gone far enough, but the legislation passed by the Liberals had put New Zealand in the forefront of the nations of the world. The Reform Party had i ought -against all measures for the uplifting of the people and the good of the many. Mr Massey had boasted that he had been a brake on Liberal progress. Why did not the Massey Government take these measures off the Statute Book? Or why did they not admit that the legislation that they had blocked was humanitarian in the extreme? The Massey Government was the x same old Tory Party with a new name. 'If the people wanted the country to progress: let them not stand by the party that' had for so long blocked the 'path of? progress, but stand by the party that^ had made New Zealand what it was. { He asked had people even realised; the mad, crazy notion that - was 'con- - tamed In the "Toy Navy." Mr Bal four said that when Britain had to meet Continental navies the ba'tle would be fought in the Home watersMr Massey saM ?*Oh, no we must have a navy of our own." .Mr^AHen had secured the Philomel as a train ing ship and .had said "that, this' would train 60 men at a time. , "this course of training would be three . years The Philomel cost £50,000 a year.-o^ that to train sixty men the "cost would be £150,000 or £2,500 for^ each- man. Then there- would be a. Bristol cruiser to police the trade routes which would cost £40,000 a year and this was the Government that - called the Ward Party the "scatter cash Gov ernment." But, he . would prophesy that the, Government would back down trom.the /'Toy Navy' for the farmers would never stand the cost. J QUESTIONS. ' Asked it the could tell anything about the proposed amalgamation ot the city electorates, Mr* Isitt said that he could no say anything- definitely about it, but if it were the case it would be worse than the abolition of the second ballot. Asked with reference to the cost of Living "Commission, Mr. Isitt said that the report 'wasi an all important one- The Government had promised a day for its "discussion but that 'had never been, given. jMr. H, F. Doogan moved a vote of thanks to Mr' Isitt for. his address!, arid confidence in the Liberal Parly and a * wish for their success at the • coming election. This was- seconded 'by Mr. Byriie and carried by acclamation. Mr. Isitt thanked the audience for their vote and said. _that he believed that people were wasting time in party squabbles^ but' that was the fault of the Party system. The duy of the Flying Squadron was to make good character o.f the Party and of its leader. -, -, '■ ■ k A vote of thanks to the Mayor concluded the meeting. A meeting: was subsequently held and a branch of the Liberal League , Conned.