The Political Campaign.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 14 November 1911, Page 2

The Political Campaign.

MR, FIELD, M.P , IN LEVIN.

IMPORTANT SPEECH

"REPLY TO CRITIC'S

Mr W. H. Field, the Government candidate, addressed a crowded meeting in the Century Hall, Levin, last evening. The Mayor (Mr B. H. Gardener) presided. The proceedings at the start were not particularly ont!iusia.'-iie, but as Mr Field proceeded to treneluintly refute the allegation-- of bis opponents, to reply to criticisms, to .spiritedly defend the policy of the Government, and to unfold tke programme for the future his audience responded to his ternaries with enthusiasm, and at the close of his address be was cordially

I cheered. i The rliainran briefly opened fcli-o I proceedings, and asked for a patient j hearing for Mr Field, who was quite i prepared to answer anv questions | they might like to put to him. Mr Field, who was received with I elioers,'explained that owing to his Parliamentary duties lie ,h'nd not been ahle to come to Levin before. The contest throughout the whole colony was going to he a strenuous one, and he hoped in this electorate tliat personalities would be eschewed. • !v Monekton was a personal friend ei bis. J)ut he bad tbe microbe ot Opposition very .much implanted in 'him. Mr Brown was an old opponent, and Mr Robertson was fiarhting as a Labour mnn. As for himself, he saw that be was railed tbe ''obi horse" bv a local poet in the T-Toro-udionun Ch'-oricle - ■ (applause and 'j I'Mirrbtor)—but bad a Liberal candiI date come forward be would have , cheerfully stood down. As none I forthcoming be was again fightj in": for tbe Liberal party in tbe oonj S'ituoncy. During tbe' time be bad j -represented the electorate Ik; kid tn«d to -do bis best for them. "What •, was the position to-day? A very s f r«n'ious effort was being made to oust him from the sent. Misrepre.'•"i'ta+ions hnd boon made about him "■ ml the jrilirv of tb n Teveral partv froni that platform. Mr M-assey and members of the Opposition, toe, 11 p'! traversed tbe constituency. ;"vl snokoii iii most of tbe towns :■ ■v-iinst. him. So far as be wa.s concerned he preferred to ficrbt bis baffle on his own. Mr Field wonton to declare tb-at no Government had ever had a stronger rase to put before the people tban tbe present Government. Tt bad been traduced and maligned.- Ever since tbe party enme into office the OROSSE3T MISREPRESENTATIONS had been indulged in. Thero were the Trine charges, and the Mokau charges, kind there was the Black pampbet, and many other equally mendacious ones. As quickly a'.s they were levelled thev were blown out. (Cries of "No! No!"). Mr i'jeld went on to quote the words of j Mr fsitt in the blouse of Representative,';, to the effect: that he bad | beard vague charges of bribery and corruption against, but he could say after careful observation there Avar- not a tittle of foundation for tlii- allegations. (Applause). ITo bad been taken to task tor having said that if tbe Opposition wore returned they would repeal manhood suffrage. Well, ho (the sneaker). rubbed shoulders a good deal with members of the Opposition and he colli inually heard them say that tbe whole of the troubles that affected thi'; country were due to manhood suffrage, introduced Itv tho greatest of our Liberal leaders Sir •1. ("Oh.") Turning to the l>!>licv of tbe Government, Mr Field a -'bed fbeni to look to Statute Book for the past 20 years, to this year's budget, and to the policy which the Government. bad enunciated therein. It thev did this, he iv;k sure that !hev won'd fly it v -''is a f-pVndbl : ord. 'Hid f hat if -'bowed every in-'lb-atici!! of n great fufore. He "'aini'-d that the legislation of the '"■ovornmonf had been concerned in the best interests of the country. The petition admitted this, and ali c-ngli in the past they h-ad opposed ■ '•! age pensions and other reforms. •b<> Opposition was now saying that 'I' was r-re pa red to swallow the Gov■"■nnient policy bolus bolus. flow "ould it be said that the Government ! >'>d run iis course!-' The Government bad been very active during 'he last sew ion. and hnd passed a number of useful and beneficial acts, including the "Widows' I'en- ■ ion Act. and an extension of the ; 'M Age Pensions Act. "What was Government's policy for the fu'ure? .< 1) Kxtuul the system of sup- • I'Ving workers ' omes: ('?) give assis- • to the iron and oil industries '•'ildi safe guards enabling the State t i resume if thought ex-nedient: (3) : s- n e State notes w : th gold backing; harness and utilise our water powers for the good of the whole domiii"■n -Lake Waikarenio-atta t-o follow ".alvo Coleridge: (o) establish co"oeratire banking amongst farmers; f Ti irrigate the dry areas of tbe dominion : (7) promnle rapid settlement 'f native lai.ds: (8) complete the '"•ilwavs and main read system of 'he dominion a.s soon as possible: ''•) encourage minim?: nOS extend 'he benefits of tbe .Mat ion a! Provident svstem : (11) previse insurance • ,r '"iiust sickness and unemployment.: (12) make our defence system ofTie'ent and practical without indulging in conveniences to anybody; (13) improve and extend the facilities for sutlers, obtaining farms of improved bind in familv croups under 'he band Settlement Finance Scheme: 0 1) inqnire into the reasons for the advance j n the cost of living, and tnko what measures that, mav be expedient to reduce it : Ho) increase the Traduatod t-nx not for reTenue, but to encourage closer settlement bv sub-divi.sion of large estates; (10) acquire large private estates for closer settlement under amended Land for _ Settlements Act; (17) promote agriculture by experimental stations, utilisation of waste, products of the dairy farmer, and turning some to profitable -account, state farms, and importation of pedigree stock: (18) settle groups of families on acquired and Crown hinds; (19) to compulsory acquire native land for closer settlement ; (20) maintain sound finance and borrow only for reproductive and necessary public works loans to setters, workers, and local bodies; (21) remission on railway fares ; (22) further reduction or abolition of customs duties on necessaries and articles of common use; (23) medical •and dental inspection of school children ; (2-1) extension of telephone system _ in country districts at lowest possible cost to subscribers: (25) fx. tension of iur.al education; (20) <-■ tablismeut o: arrrienltural schools; (27) and encouragement to young We recomend Roslvn snit-s for ctyle and lasting wear; from all clothiers from 32s 6d. —Advt. Tho popular Roslyn "Writing Pads (copyrighted) 6d and Is each from all storekeepers.—Advt. Tho time has now come to ;prav for Codlin Moth. I have just got in the new season's stock of Arsenate of Lead, in lib., 21b.. 51b., and 101b. jars. F. C. Remington, The Pharmacy, Levin. ,

people to take to country life and. pursuits. But if he were returned to Parliament ho wanted an ABSOLUTELY FREE HAND'. However, so long as the Government extended and developed its policy, then it would bo his intention to faithfully support the Government. (Applause.) Mr Field twitted' the Opposition for going under a number of aliases; they were once tho Conservative Party, then the National Association, now they were the Reform Party. He did not know what they Avould be called in the future. (A voice: The Govern-ment.---Loud laughter). (Another voice: They'll spell it with ' a. D.) Tho Opposition policy had nothing of a new or initiatory character about it. Admittedly they maintained that tlie Legislative" Council should be elected. But Mr Field held that if the Opposition proposal was adopted only wealthy men would be able to contest tho seats. Another objection to the pioposal was that tho Council would then ask to he placed on an equal legislative footing with the House ol Representatives, and this would be a duplication of tho Lower House. If a. change were to bo made he would either abolish the Council or substitute an advisory body. (Applause.) The Opposition also favoured a Public Service Board, but such boards had not proved succesful in other portions of the British Empire, and moreover, they wore an unnecessary expense. So far as increases and l promotions were concerned they had to bo given on tlie distinct recommendation of the heads of tho departments. With regard to corruption and mal-admin-istration could they give him an instance where it had occurred. (A voice: The Hine charges.) Was Mr Hine right? asked Mr Field. What was discovered as a result of tho investigations? The Opposition admitted that there was' no wrong doing on the part, of the Government! Mr Hine also admitted it. The- only thing that was proved was that a Maori member. Mr Kailuu. had received a certain sum of money for work that he had performed, and he (the member in question) was of the opinion at the time that there was nothing wrong in what he did. Willi regard to Mr Symos. Mr Field reminded his hearers that Sir Joseph Ward had declined to address a meeting on his behalf until the charges that woro then pending against him had been disproved. Tt was true that while two Government members had received commissions for the sale of land, a, member of the Opposition bad also received pommission on selling a block of land to the Govorrmcnt. and he said he would be. vorv glad to sell another. fLoud Tlio philosophy of the Liberal Party appeared to he in have care for the benefit of the individual, whereas the philosophy of the Government had been to look to tho State first. ("What about +.h.o title?") Mr Field said that, like Mr Robertson, he thought there were far more important matters to consider in Now Zealand than the o-ift of a title to. Sir Joseph Ward. Tt was an honour that the King had a right to give: and no drsbt the King in giving it bestowed it not so much on the individual as on the country. The gift of tho Dreadnought had shown to the German people that when in trouble the Mother Cnuntrv had the dominions behind her. He held that the gift was a perfectly legitimate one. and one that was greatlv appreciated by the Old Coin try. The Opposition stated that if returned to power thoy would reduce borrowing and taxation and yet they promised Mi'uti al! kinds of expensive enterprises, including concessions to Crown tenants and local bodies, extensions of the old age pension sch-

p>n<\ incronscs in sain rips, and irri•T:iHo!i in O'-ni/o. T!ip 'Public Debt, c-ufliinorl M> i'iv'bl. u'lkmi tbo Govern luont camp into 'oOk-p twenty venrs n'ro wns C30.0n0.0n(). It wns

iumv c70.0n0.000. or t.iio 70.000,000. £-1.7,023 iutrrp.st bearing;. C7.0n0.000 wn? iwliwtly internet 'benn'mr. and tin* portion that.wns

not interest bcarin*.- was £25,000.000. Tbo iot.nl increase in the X.VriOXAL DEBT which was not interest hearing and was therefore a burden on the people, since the Liberal Government came, into power, was ,C' 0,612,000. That was a very different thing than i.hat which was continually pumped into them by speakers on the other side. The non-olfieial candidate had stated that taxation had increased i'rom C"} 7s Id tn CI fis lOd per head of the papulation. But, said Mr Field, the incrca.'-'e of taxation was not due to the increase of c.isfiinis dulies, and it was only on eusfeni-; dulies that the poorer people paid. Since 1891 the customs duties ha/1 onlv goiK> up from £2 0s 3d to !:2 14s 3d. The Government and Parliament had been most anxious to place duties on the shoulders of !'ir.=.-> best able '■<;< hear them. ("What about hnots?") Mr Field pointed out that ill" dutv placed on hiots was to protect the boot industry of this country., mid prevent the introduction of .dtoddy stuff. With rocard to motor cars, only portions that oould not be made in fhi.s conntiy were allowed in free. In reference to bicycles (lie finished bicycle was charged duty, but the unfinished portions whieh we.va put together hero were admitted i'reo, to give- labour to our own people. Turning to tie land opiostion Mr Field stated tliat the Government was not •s) definite on the tenure as be would like them to he. Tlio main policy of the country should be the settlement of tlio land, aJid he inought Ux;y would agree that tlio p.n.cy of land .seuionicnt had progressed fairly rapialy in recent ,\ears. Crown tenants were a eontmted section. 1 : of tiio population at t.io present time. There had been a great outcry that the Government had not spent enough money for ■ and purchase But they knew In Levin tkit at the present time the price of land was exorbitant. "About 150 estates wen; offered to the Government this year, and owing to the price of land, only some fourteen estates had been purchased. It ivas, therefore, foolisn for Mr Massey to say that if lie were in power' he would spend £2,()00,0C0 on land purchase, it would be a splendid tiling for the large landowners at present prices. 31 r Field remarked that when the Knropeans came to this country the natives owned the whole area. At the time tlio Liberal Government came into power t'lev had parted with all up to 11.OpO.OCO acres, and on the 31st March

i\\\'< year tJie amount of native land n»-!C(l l>v Maoris nnti remaining unoccupied' ivas less thin 3,000,000 ! acres.- Of that-a very large portion was totally unfit for settlement. The candidate proceeded tor' deal with local affairs, and in connection with tin? Racing dub recounted what Parliament had done, and said that the com mission that til:-- Government appointed .should never have been appointed. It would have he-en fairer to have appointed a magistrate who should have made the fullest inquiry into

the matter. Then he did not think they would have had anything to complain of.' But a commission was appointed, the members of which were deeply interested in the subject, and that commission loolred after its own ir.torests first. Ho was in hc-v-s that before the last session was liuislicd a Bill would havo been passed remedying tho state of things, and no one regretted more than ho did the result of tho commission. Ho felt that a gross injustice had been done to Levin. (Applause). But they had only to Wait to tho end of the present'year when ho thought thoy would iind they would bo in tho samo position as they were previous to tho findings of tho commission. (Loud Applause.) Mr Field proceeded to explain what the Government had done in regard to the Manawatu railway fences. On taking over the lino in 3908 a clause was inserted in the Act which had the effect of cancelling fencing agreements. as entered into by the company. But on representations being made by petition the Government decided to reinstate these agreements and undertook the responsibilities, of the company for tho upkeep of the fences mentioned therein. "With respect to all other fences along the line the law under tho Railways Construction and Land Act of 1881 was that upon a closed line the Crown was entitled to the samo rights as those which affected Government railways, including the right to call upon the settlors to keep tho forces in repair. Instead of insisting on this, however, the Government had decided, through Mr Field, to undertake the repair of all such fences and charge the settlers with only half the cost. He thought that was a fair proposition. and he intended to submit it to the settlers at an early date. With regard to items on the Estimates, it was absolutely true to say that in every case in recent years where public works grants had been put on the Estimates and passed by Parliament, the Government had. with all speed, notified the local bodies that the money was available. They were told it was a-fair thing to divide the amounts granted equally among the various electorates, but if they did that thev would neglect the backblocks which would never be developed, and districts which needed little or no money would be expected to spend grants which were useless to them. The needs of every district, however, were carefully gone into by the various departments. He was disgusted to find a story has gone round the country that ho personally received from the Government as compensation for five acres of land on Kapifci CSO an acre, and that he had induced natives to sell their land at CI an acre. \Vhcu the Government took over Kapiti Island they took over 12$ acres of the pick of the building land. It was on that land he intended to build cottages for tne accommodation of his family and other families This was ruthlessly taken by the Government, who had had it for 14 years, and they had practically done nothing with it. When it came to the question of what they should pay he said "Yon are doing nothing with my land. It would not hurt you if 1 had the land back. lam prepared to give vou £200 to get it." This offer was still open. The Government, however, decided that tliev would keen the land, and he (.Mr Field) said ''Give me, what you would give for similar farming land on the main land." A Government valuer was sent for, and valued the land £11 an acre. He valued the land

at a price which gave Mr Field £11 an acre, and the natives .sold a lame area of land for M an aere. TheiPs was land situated at a height of 1800 feet, and of a precipitous nature. That was the whole trouble. (Applause). The takhijr of his land occurred years before he thought of entering Parliament, and its loss to him had been the most severe property loss he had ever experienced. In conclusion, Mr Field .'-aid that ho stood before them as a Government

supporter so long as the Government

continued it« present policy, but still he waj:*ed tJio free hand he had described and he was supporting the Government because it had done exceedingly good work and no one could possibly say that it had not. The Government had been an hon-

est Government, and had administered the State in the best intrcsts of. the people. He had tried to

point out what the Government had done, what their policy was for the future, and he asked their., iras ix, a fair thing to turn them out of

office? So far as lie personally was concerned he had lion est lv tried to do his duty by them. "(Loud applause.) They might say with perfect truth tbflt he had mot done so in all respects, but he thought they would say that he had bean a rairrv good member. (Loud appl.au.se.) Questions were then invited. Mr Parker asked Mr Field to state 'his reasons for opposing a resolution forcing the Government to furnish returns of the expense of raising loans within twelve months. Mr Field replied that ho did not support it for the reason that there had never been any real delay in furnishing particulars concerning the cost 'of raising loans. He had in his hand returns laid on the ta'blo of the House .showing everv penny cf cost in respect to loans' preceding the £5.000,000 loan. Tt very often (happened that information was not available for twelve months, hut immediately the Government received the information the particulars were laid on the table of the House. _ Mr Field, in replv to another question, said that he had asked n question in the House whether the Gov-

ernment could not see it? Wav

prevent a svstem who>°bv wealthy people gr»t the advantage over Poorer candidates hv can—ing in large' numbers to th" nol 1 He had seen sufficient of that thingin "Wellington w, I 'en the pl'to*'-- were

crowded with Opno<itior> miotor ear.?. (Applause and lan<7.h+cr\ Cr. France, asked: SViivr f--;t the freehold -tenure is flip h-st "or nrstclass land, would you T >e in of cutting up all native la-v!-- that sire not required by tiro ratios for fa.nnin.cr punxises into '--mnM areas and wiling thr- f: : .~rl:-v'd In r>-~!a fuVsettlers. The money to h? invested by the Public Trustee and the interest paid to the native;; and also wl:at difference could it make to the natives \,'. .Uier i •i. i . :nue rre-ii thoir 1r.n.l came i/:.:;i the rout on long leases or from interest on mortgages. Mr Field replied: Yes. Fe was rovling that the land settlement policy 'should l)e applied 4 o the native In. d, and that the freehold was Llie 'be;t tenancy t -•!nt i.: !i:.;it lie iv ;uld wot distinguish between natiV?s ami Europeans with rosncot 1 to forcing t 1 —m to r^ 1 !; t 1 of fho fi nmp law should apply to ei"h, so lone; as the natives were left '-nPr>ir>nt land for their own support. He thought wo ought to do much mo it. for the native population in. the form of education a.'-d in th» wv of encouraging tbem to work and make r.he b-st use of their land. Mr Vincent a.vk:d th" Government polie" i" to the

settlement of native land was typified by Levin and Foxton. Within a radius of >1 miles they had an area of 10,000 acres of native land and at the Borough of Foxton there was 20,000 acres.

I Mr Field replied that in regard to the land near Foxton this did not [ amount to 20,000 acres. The lease of the particular block did not fall in for the next three or four years. It had been leased 'before the Government came into office. In regard to the block -at Levin the land had been available and open for anyone person to take up at any timo k from the natives if they thought fit. Tt had been no fault of the Government that peoplo had not taken an opportunity of'acquiring some portion of it. (Cheers). Mr Field understood that the land wa.s not in the hands of two persons, because several areas had been distributed amongst others. What position will you take in the new House on the cm est ion of freehold?

My intention so long as I am in Parliament will be to support the grant of freehold to Crown tenants on every occasion I can. Ido not think there is any man who holds Wronger vi<i\vv in '»no House than I do on limiting freehold. Tf tho question was proposed against the Government, how do vou propose to vote? I have made it perfectly plain if T go into Parliament I want to ro there unfettered. After my actions in the past if you cannot trust me don't put mo into Parliament. (Loud applause). Mr Field intimated that ho would dear with the Mokau question, taxation per head of population and other matters at a public meeting at an earlv date in Levin.

Mr F. G. Roe moved a hearty rote of thanks to Mr Field for his address, and confidence in him.

M_r T. L. Walker .seconded the motion.

An amendment that Mr Field he o.vordtvl a vote of thanks was rejected, and. the chairman tfien declared the resolution ca.rried, amidst applause.