SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN DISTANT NEW ZEALAND.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7398, 26 February 1902, Page 4

SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN DISTANT NEW ZEALAND.

Mr H. D, Lloyd, who spent a few weeks iv New Zealand a year or two ago, still draws a bright picture of New Zealand's happy state. A recent American paper contained the following : —

An audience which filled the auditorium and overflowed into the galleries assembled at Plymouth Church last night to hear the address of Henry Demarest Lloyd, of Boston, on "Newest England: New Zealand's Experiment in Democracy." Mr Lloyd is a well-known writer on economic topics. He visited the Antipodes in 1899, for the express purpose of investigating conditions in New Zealand. His lecture last evening was an interesting recital of the results of the experiment in democratic government, as exemplified in those far-away islands. Said Mr Lloyd in part :

" Our Bubject tonight is antipodal democracy ; antipodal because New Zealand is directly opposite us on the other Bide of the world, and because the democratic • methods in vogue there are directly opposite to ours. I went to New Zealand to study the new social experiment on the ground. I did not find there any perfected pc pie, any Utopia, but I did find there people who had done very advsnturous things and put into practice veiy advanced ideas."

The speaker gave a charming description of New Zealand— its mountains, its climate, its fiowers. In many ways, he said, the island democracy, physically speaking, was nob unlike the kingdom of Japan, situated almost a like distanoe from the equator, on the north. Continuing, Mr Lloyd said : —

" New Zealand id a normal country, with normal institutions and problems of modern society. New Zealand was the only pace left on the feca of tbe globe where tbe human race could spend its gonius on these problems, free from monarchy and conditions like those which ex'st in the United States. Never before has a race l'ka the Maoris been found by the English. The Maoris are strong in body and in intellect. This strength of tbe Maori r cc arises from the circumstance that, wh-m they went to New Zealand 500 yeai*3 ago thay found a beautiful but unfurnished house. They had to fight so hard for a living that they grew strong to fight for their rights against the English when they came. Now the Maori is equal to the Englishman in that country. The Maori policeman is as much respected as the English policeman, and, just as I left New Zealand, a Maori gentleman had been called to a seat in the Council, to be one of the equal rulers of New Zealand.

' ' The people of New Zealand form the most easily managed democracy on the face of the earth. The people form an ideal blend. There are English and Scotch, and just enough Irish to leaven the whole. They are there simply to seek a better living. Everything grows rapidly in New Zealand, and ideas sprout quickly there.

11 When the colony of New Zealand was only half a Cdntury old, it found itself confronted by a great problem. Only ten years ago there was a greater land monopoly than that of Ireland. There was also a money monopoly. The , banks tqueezed the life out of the merchants. This monopoly of Jan 1 and monopoly of money took possession of tbe Government, and made it a Government of the people by monopolisls for monopolists, and a reign of soup kitohens and poverty resulted.

" The best blood of New Zealand wanted to engage in agriculture, and had money to purchase farms, but could not, as the land was in the hands of large owners who would not part with it. Then there was the strike against the ship monopoly. It failed, and it broke the heart of New Zealand. But, that was the turning poirt. The people resolved to find a remedy, and at the next election the sun of the Cons rvative party set for ever. It was a revolution, but, unlike the French revolution, it was bloodless. Thereafter the word government was synonymous with tbe word people."

The speaker then rapidly sketched the events which followed the defeat of the Conservative party, and the rise of the new democracy. Said he:

•'Under the old system the Government was used to build up monopoly. One of the principles of the present democracy is the abolition of millionaires and paupers. One of the great evils was the system of Government credit. This was abolished and with it the Government contractor. Now labour is employed on railways and other public work directly by the Government More than that, labour is settled as far as possible near the work to be done for bhe Government, and the workers thus become permanent inhabitants.

"In th.9 land system the changes were momentous. The people— synonymous with government in New Zealand — broke up the monopoly in land by the assumption of vast traots which were in the hands of individual owners. The Government paid a fair price for land where the sale was voluntary ; otherwise they took the land by condemnation, paying its fair valuation. The Government, that is, the people, out up tbe land into small farms, garden plots, and building lots. The national Government has empowered cities to acquire any land for the purposes of the people. The grip of the real dealer is broken and land speculation in New Zealand is dead. No man now dreams of founding a great landed estate, as such estates are founded in England. The Government has adopted a system of tenure which prevents the formation of large estates by giving the owners a long lease. This prevents parting with lands without the consent of the Government.

" The railroads were always owned by the people in New Zaaland, but the Tories had placsd them under non-political commissioners who could not be reached. One of the first fruits of the new democracy was placing the railroads in the hands of a Minister, who is a member of Parliament who can always be reaohed by his fellow members. The new Government made i self a great employment agency, a Borfc of clearing house to bring labor and the opportunity to labor together, and it instituted admirable factory laws.

" In th i matter of labor wars, the people of New Zealand entered upon a bold experiment. They established compulsory arbitration, and have made it a great success, and New Zealand is tee only oivilised country without strikes. Then the people entered into partnership with the producers of Wfialth. Behind the exporters of meat and dairy products, and everything sent abroad, the Government pats all of its resources. Men were sent abroad to act at agents of exporters, warehouses were established, collections made, and the receipts came to the producer in the form of a Government cheque, partial payment upon which even can be anticipated, if desired. The Government stamps and approves everything sent abroad. Thus, in many ways, the Government can use political power for their own benefit.

"The people broke the money monopoly by a process so simple thab everyone wondered why he had not

thought of it. Tbe Government sent to England and borrowed money on its bonds in the London market at a low rate of interest, and then loaned it to the people at less than one half the rates of interest which had been charged by the money monopoly. The last report shows that there has never been a default in principal or interest to the amount of a single dollar. The panic of 1893 struck Australia, and swept away $450,000,000 'of wealth. Then the panic started for New Zealand, but it never got there. The Government took pos&essiou of the principal bank, and stood behind it. Other banks took courage and also stood, and everybody else stood, and the only country around the world that the panic could not afleot was New Zealand. " Then they gave women the franobise. The measure went through Parliament; in a single night. New Zealand, first of all countries, gave the old age pennon <, and abolished the horrors of the poorhouse." j Mr Lloyd again reverted to the , management of the railways of New ! Zealand, and gave many interesting facts. . 11 In the management of tLe : railways there is no robbing j the people," he said. "The people insist that the railways must not be run to make money. As fast as they begin to make money, rates are reduced* The railways cannot be used for bleeding the people, physically or financially. In this country last yeas the railways killed over 7000 people. In New Zealand iast year not a traveller nor an employee was killed. Tli9y have air-brakes on tha trains and they have no wreckers in the corporations. What the shipper of freights pays the Government get. There are no differential rates and no rebates to favored shippers." The speaker then went into detail regarding the benefits accruing to the people from tbe railways. They | take the unemployed to places where they can obtain work, and maintain them until they get to wcrk. Then with the first stroke the workman make 3 he begins to pay, and is enabled to procure himself lund and a home. The railways are utilised for giving children in the country excursions to the city and the children in the city excursions to the mountains. So cheap are the rates for these excursions that children and their attendants can travel 100 miles '. or more and return for 50 cents. The speaker closed his interesting ] address by a resume of the advantages which he found accruing to the people of New Zealand, as the result of their experiment in the new democracy.