POLITICAL.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 245, 3 October 1911, Page 5

POLITICAL.

HAWKE S BAY CONTEST

MR. IL M. CAMPBELL S ADDRESS. AN ENTHUSIASTS' AND SVM PATHETIC MEETINC. Mr. IL M. Campbell, the Reform candidate for the Hawke's Bay seat, delivered his first pnldw address in the Princess Theatre, Ha tm.tr. last evening. The building was packed, the attendance niimbtiing over son people, and it is estimated that fully :jno were unable to obtain admission. His Wi rsiiip the Mayor prosified, and formally iytrodiuid th- speaker. Mr. Campbell, who was !< ;:db. ap plauded on rising, thanked his audience for being present in such large numbers. He remarked that hireasons for < -tiling forward in this campaign were for the .’.ffictcu he bore to his country which he desire I to see well administered, anti he was sure this had not been the case of late. The time had come when it was necessary f< r the electors to find a candidate to till the place of Mr. Dillon, and though he had every respect for that gentleman he had not for the party he represented. When Mr. Seddon came into power there were many things to nut right- the "sweating” system had to be fough’ and Mr. Seddon had combated these and improvcd the situat'on. But had Sir Joseph M arti done anything like this during his tenure of office: He would point out that at the ecmmenccmcnt of Mr. Ballance's Ministry the Government expenditure was 'J3!too»>.<»*> ar.fi it rose £22.<m0.00 , i

• luring the next 23 years, but during •air Joseph Ward's five years n ►office it had gone up £ 13JM.X>.<wn> ni<-rc. A country like this could not. e? course, do without borrowing, but viiry wanted to see a good retir:. for the outlay. Mr. Campbell referred t*» th" Dreadnought ineiden?. and maintained that the people or their representative;, should have have been consulted before the gift was made. There was also £t'HiO donate 4 towards a statue on the bat tleficld of Quebec ami he thought this was granted with a view to gaining titles; the money would have been far better spent on reads ami railways. Bills had been introduced in Parliament asking L;r in formation re fietation of loans and these were thr.-wn cut. He (Mr. Campbell) maintained this inf .miction should be given. There was tl e question of quantities of coal : ~'d out of St-i’e coal mines, he asked why should there be am secrecy as to what the various f-rrters were. \ mere statement that > much coal hail Been sold in any given period was n t at all a !•;:• mcss-l'ke way f dealing. Sir Joseph M :rd had c:.:ideinned Mr. Martin, the Opp »s' »:i organiser, for stating the Dumdin railway station had vest £*>, !>c (Sir Jf ;eph) alleging in hail ;».i’v cest £'i.i“»>. But when the I’r:.i:>’ Minister wanted to prove •<> the Dunedin people win; the (» arni emrncnt hail d me for them he qmved the < -st at Clzffi.non. Referring t > taxation the speaker raid he rasa great believer, wberev e • pc;.-: ihle, in u t-.x on wealth, such a ; the graduated land tax, but not o a means of confiscation. Dealing with lentil duties, he instance the case of a ram who died leaving £2’* | o. It co.it £350 to get the estate through which be considered a most iniipu • t’; thing. There ■> m> ' •<>i:ragment to ti man to .avc if the I levcniment was going to grab everything. THE LAM) QUESTION

He wts a believer in freehold. Thin was the cnlv tenure a man carcel for, but where a freehold could net l>e purchased cut right he th might a lense with right t > piv in 33 years l»v small instalments v is feasible, the moneys being p?id in to the Treasury, the money being dev te 1 tc the pstn-hare of ‘her lands. The man with a piece of Land held on perpetual lense, shun!l be placed cn the same fr ding as the man with (>. R.P. land, and tlnstate would benefit by it. He was not in fav -ar of the high taxes put upon cb’thing. etc., simply for the benefit of .a few shareholders in a woollen < < rap.atiy. and he considered it would be to the benefit < f the country generally if those taxes were reduced. He did not appr vc of the Ivallot system because many speculators went to the Italict with no intention cf occupying the land, but if bleeding a genuine settler. Neither was he in fav* tir < f taking land by compulsion .and be was glad t<: see that being dropped. In cotinection with the nati'e land <] e< «•-t; . which was v big one he believed the iiatar* slicuid be placed . ;i the Mtttie f* 1 t ing as the pak-din. There was a large am -tint * f r.nttve laud I- eke i up. In the Mokmi they bail an illustra• tion of the Government s wav of dealing. quite a --ccret and St-.'* Chamber kind rf business. Tl •• land as they would rcm*-:iil-« i «;ti bought at XiS.uon from the Maoris, then it rose to the amount • I’ I‘7l.•'«"' when rcsc-ld and latterly changed hands at E’OO.fHM.

OLD AGE PENSIONS. The Reform Partv purposed alter ing the present Ohl Age PensionAct so that a woman ev.ild obta.n the pen- ion at the age cf no 't-’.r-instead **f at 65. lie <■< •* -idert d th u if a man was deserving cf a pern .it 65. a woman was far i;:- re c:: titled to it at the age of 6". Hr would heartily support the proposed amendment. (Applause). He h -ped for and felt confident that a meture providing for insurance ag'-.in.-i sickness and tmempl- ’• mem c, uld be devised. With regard' t<, the f’rmcr. be could see im> difficult' n .. r •• ' but in reference t ’ iitsur:im-e am ll --: inicmplevmcnt lie w idd like I into futther consider and ■"■nix i. • schemes adopted nr e'iict < nnt:ii>. a WAGES P.O All DS. The preterit Arbitr it :**n ( '■ net wa~ giving satisfacti a te eilher empl*-yer ctnpie-.*■*■. Ho f:,' if i i the Vietori-m si-trni -f Wtge< and «odd advccatc it a f i ll i > ■ Th- v v. i :<■ '* r-'cthinu after the style our i-re'ent C :l--atii-ir I *r;ni il. ex* epi ’i ■’ : t cf having a fixed rlnumin two representatives ■ ’• e ti '■ * ‘O pi. u- and » nt**l . ch an man. This >' --tem had yr.crt

every satisfaction. Instead :f hiving a mininmum wage which he did not believe m thev :-h" tdd have a standard wage. The rmplf.ur ami employ co should agree <-n a standard wage, with a scale according t<- the ability of the worker. He believed in paving g« d vv.’rc- :'•■•■ m ad work. (Applause). Dominion awards should be made where pesi ddc. Th - v> the case in shearers' work and it had given every satisfacli m. D'ltcrent trades should be gr ( aps. as. f-»;-instance, the building trade. in which nt present there were sever'd different award--. Men working umii r similar • • million: should have one award. WAIKAREMOANA. At Waikarcmoana. hundreds and hundreds <,f p timls worth < f power was going t> which could be used and he saw no reason why the rights to harness the povvin should not be left to private enter prise on condition Shat the •State could take over the rights at any time at c< st ph:, a percentage agreed upon. The State would not be at anv loss, and the whole of the district would be bcnefittcd by the use of that which was now g-ing to waste. TOURIST TRAFFIC.

To bring the tourist traffic from Rot' rua to Waikaiem ana instead of being divirtcd to the M anganui river it would lie necessary to con struct about eight miles i f reading. This did not seem a very big undertaking. but he bail c’.use t-- beli"ve that the reason the work wc.s mt taken up was that the powers that be had interests in the M anganui river steamship service. CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.

[ He would like t < see the ( ivil Service reformciL At the prerent time it was under the control • f a Minister and political inlhmn ■ > was 'reeping in. He behoved in a ( ivil Service Beard, and the servants ap pointed by competitive examination. Unde;- this system the : crime would be something of which they could bi more proud than they were at p:c sent. ELECTIVE UPPER HOUSE. The Upper Hi use also needed reform. At the present time it was cr.lv representative of eno man. The • lo - tion cf members to the House of Re presentatives mi a popular vote was laid down by a democratic people, •and the same state of affairs : hould apply to the Upper Home. This It favoured, with the except.< a tb.-t two constituencies should elect on • representative. He was opposed •>> special Maori representation, awl considered the natives shottld be placed on the same fo-ting as Europeans. EDUCATION. •Speaking on the question of edue.a tijn, Mr. Campbell raid that the present system wan one of the best in the wirlil and the Government had sb :wn a great deal of coninionsensc in its e-iueat icnal polic-v. although it hail been inherited from the Lat< Sir John Hall. He was not in favour I of any alteration at present. THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. He was m t a teetotaler, although he held no brief fer the Prohibit : m Party, fie was in fav >ur of idh- ring to the three-fifths unjo n; . which was :at isfactcrv t both alt-heugh he considered slemld lie a more strict adminrstraiio.i •! the Licensing Act. Publicans who sold poor liquc *’ should not «> * y lie fined a few | c;mils. br.t '4mild I e sent to gaol. (Loud ’.ppl iuse). THE RAILWAYS. Up to the present year the rail ways had not paid, they were not returning the same rate of interest as was being paid on the money t.Ari-uwf-d to construct tb**m. The

Hon. J. A. Millar contended that the railways were returning I per cent., but his returns were bas'd only on lines that were open, why li was not a business way of doing thitms. The Minister had said that the £1.500.000 spent on lines that were not earning interest should not be included in the returns, but he (the speaker) pointed out that when a business man invested his money, he counted from the day he invested it. not from the time the money began to return interest. (Applause.) As a matter of fact the railways were returning less than 3.1 per cent., ami the money had been borrowed at per cent.

■ Mr. Campbell thanked the audi-eiH-i- for their patient hearing ami i resumed his seat amidst thunderous I applause. i QUESTIONS. ! ] n rcplv to quest inns Mr. ( aiup- | bell said : If it is was intended to make the i graduated land tax a confiscatory one, he was not in favour of a fur- [ ther increased tax on land values ali.in- £|i»>.' > ‘hi .The time had not | vet arrive*! for sii*-h an increase, but J when it did he would l>e prepared to | consider it. I If it could be shown that a monop- ' oiy was injurious to the public wel fare, he would be in favour ot the Slate coining in and acquiring it. There were various definitions of a monopoly. He was not in favour of State control of the liquor traffic. The State had made such a mess of other btisim><<. that he thought it would be better for the trade to remain as it wa'. instead of going from bad to

He was in favour of compulsory military training. The man who called himself a Briton and who was not prepared to defend his country against foreign invasion was not worthy of being called eitiiei a man or a Briton. (Loud applause). He was opposed to the system of billoting for laud and favoured letting it by tender. If there happened to l.e fifty tenderers at the same price, he would submit the land .-main, restrictinu the privilege ot tendering to the same titty. He ..1.;.-, ted to money being borrowed when h was spent in a way wh’eh left nothing t«> show for it. He was no’ in favour of the abolition of the totalisator and would not ..i.jc. ■ hl it being used at sports n-o I trig'. He would vote with Mr. Massey or tu'otic <•!•*■ on a tm c-Hitmeuc*-

motion to remove the Ward Government from office. If the Dominion <-<>idd afford it. In- would be in favour of naval as well as territorial defence.

By utilising the electric power from M aikaremoami vve could compete with foreign industries and thus reduce the present high tariff.

He considered the Government iiad made a mess of the Advances to Settlers Scheme. The intention was to give the small farmer an opportunity of getting a home, but political influence had crept in. and one man could gel an advam-c where an other would lie refused. THANKS.

On the motion of Messrs. T. Horton and T. Clarkson a hearty vote of thanks to the candidate was carried by acclamation accompanied bv cheers.

The usual compliment to his M'orship the Mayor for presiding brought to a close one of the most successful, enthusiastic and orderly political meetings yet held in Hastings. MR. FRASER AT PETANE. An exceptionally large number of Pet-me and district residents .including some twenty-five ladies, assembled at that town-hip to meet Mr. A. L. D. Fraser last evening. Mr. D. Milpp occupied the chair, and in introducing the speaker spoke of th f :r thirty years friendship and of the work done by Mr. Fraser for Hawke's Bay while member for Napier. The candidate spoke for about an hour and a half, traversing Opposition criticism and their destructive tactics, based on half truths. He handled several of Mr. Campbell's statements in his AVniroa, spcieh with severity but fairness. Air. Fraser dealt with many special points of political interest, and was accorded a flattering reception. On he motion of Messrs. T. Milne and f. Harvey a vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Fraser. Subsequently a deputation waited upon Air. Fraser and asked him to visit Eskdalc. This he promised to do in a few weeks’ time.

THE PAIIIATI'A SEAT. (.[•EK I’KESS ASSOCIATION.] Mo-dvillc, Oil. 3. Mr. W. IL Ilawkim; l ist night ml drci-scel th" Ingest meeting held here : ince last election. He spoki mai.’dy e;> pri-hibit'on. He l ani’ounecd that he would st anil for the Pahiatui electorate against ail eomers.

OTAKI ELECTORATE

Levin, Oct. 3. Mr. Byron Brown, Independent Opprsitic-n candidate for the Otaki elccte-rate, addressed the electors at Levin last night- He criticised the 1 Premier's Budget and contended that the assets were inflated. He asserted that the actual position of Xew Zealand’s liabilities was £93. (KMi.iHM) anil her assets were £Bl.(mh>.- • >oo. thus showing -i iliscrep incy of between the Premier’s figures and the fact. A motion war carricil on the voice.-, that the meet ing expresses pleasure in seeing Mr. Brown a candidate ar’aiii.