MR WILSON AT TE KUITI.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 713, 17 October 1914, Page 5

MR WILSON AT TE KUITI.

A LIVELY MEETING. Mr C. K. Wilson, member for the district, delivered his first political address of the campaign at Te Kuiti last night to a good audience. Mr J. Boddie. Mayor, presided. At the opening of hi 3 Epeech. Mr Wilson referred to the departure of the troops, and said he was proud and glad they were going to do their duty. The military monster must be put down, and he felt sur6 the troops of the' Dominion would do their duty nobly in assisting to that end. The speaker said the first speech of the campaign had been made at Stratford, and th 9 candidate there had predicted this was going to be the bitterest campaign on record. Mr Wilson hoped his supporters would put up a fair and clean fight. He deplored the system of villification which bad been introduced into politics. If Mr Massey was gulfcy of one-tenth of the thinga he was charged with he would not be fit to be in Parliament. He challenged the Opposition to prove one state ment made against him. Mr Massey had been charged with breaking the pledges made to the people of New Zealand, but Mr Wilson said he proposed to show how Mr Ma3sey had kept his pledges as far aa was possible within human power. FINANCE. Dealing with finance, the speaker said it waa claimed by the Massey party that the finances of the country were in a bad state and required putting in order. During the elections in 1911 a resolution was passed by the

Advances Board that advances should De cut' down. On the 18 of December the limit was reduced to £SOO. The Massey Government came into power in July, 1912, and the three branches of the Department including advances to settlers, ' workerß, and local bodies, had commitments to the extent of over a million and a-half, and only £684,000 to meet them. Had Sir Joseph Ward arranged for a loan as he might hava done the finances could have been placed in a good position. Instead his predecessors were ieft to face a difficult task. Since the Government had taken office steady improvement had been sbown. In ( May, 1913, the limit was increasedto £6OO, and shortly after to £750 while in' June it raised to £IOOO. Early in the present year provision was made for advancing up to £5 00 for repaying existing mortgages, and later up to £750. The improvement in the finances of the country had been so marked that in respect to advances to local bodies a resolution was passed by the Board removing all restrictions in respect to local bodies, which were empowered to borrow up to £60,000 during three years. The opponents of the Government drew a comparison between the amounts advanced by the Department in 1911 and in subsequent years. The truth was that in 1911 was election year, and the amount advanced wa9 greater than the statutory limit. The result waß that lean year followed, but the present Government had strengthened the finances so that last year the local body of this district had got £16,000 33 compared with £I6OO the previous year. The f.harge of their opponents that the Government stood for the big private financier was disproved by every Act of the Administration in respect to finance. The speaker said he understood Mr Atmore, when speaking at Te Kuiti had challenged him to prove Mr Massey had kept one of his promises. Nobody would accuse Mr Atmore of tilling the truth, and he, the speaker, had just proved Mr Massey had kept his promise in respect to finance, as could be said of all his promises

THE LAND QUESTION. Referring to the land question, Mr Wilson said the Government had promised to give the freehold to the people of New Zealand and had loyally kept that promise. The speaker quoted from speeches made by Sir George Grey in 18S8 and 1892 advocating the freehold and denouncing the system of State landlordism. The policy of Sir George Grey was the policy of Mr Massey to-day. The Liberal Government had put men on blocks of poor land in areas which did not give the settler a chance and in the case of Tangitu settlers Mr Maasey jad increased the areas nf certain settlers to give them a proper chance, to succeed. Raferring to the breaking up of larg9 estates for closer settlement the speaker asked why the Liberal Government during twenty years had not taken the large estates. There was something tu be said for the owners of big estates who had pioneered the country, but the time had arrived when the land was wanted for 1 the people, and they should have it on fair terms. In bis first speech in Parliament hj& had declared he would support no land policy which did not provide lan'i for the smail holder, and during the whole term of Parliament he had advocated the cause of the small settler and the uplifting of the poor mar. He had supported the increase of the graduated land tax. However, ha did not think the graduated land ta: the best method to promote close settlement. It forced land on the market but the poor map had no chance oE acquiring the land. He believed in ttfe Government acquiring the land and giving it to the small holders on teims which they could reasonably comply with. . As indicating Mr Massey's desire to promote the interests of the small liolder, the speaker said when the freehold bill wa3 passed the settler desirous of converting to freehold was forced to go to the private lender §to finance. Mr Massey introduced the system whereby it was made possible for the Crown] tenant to pay for his land in twenty years. Concerning aggregation, it had been said the Government would permit aggregation and they had passed drastic legislation with a view to preventing the practice. It was a difficult matter to deal with, and the previous Administration had been powerless to prevent cases of it occurring. He instanced the case of a Whangamomona settler who had acquired nine miles along the road. As showing what was being done by the Government to promote close settlement the speaker quoted figures showng the Government had acquiired 141,000 acres for close settlement last year eg compared with 14,000 acquired by the previous Government in 1911. Most of the land acquired by the present Government had been settled, and during the last two years 184 new settlers had gone on the land between Te Kuiti and Taumarunui. Every effort was being made to hasten settlement and surveyors' fees had been increased with this objcat in view.

THE WORKERS. Referring to workers' homes, Mr Wilson said the Ward Government in aix years had provded 210 workerß' homes, and in three years the Massey Government had provided 305. He believed it was the duty of the Government to help the people to get the best possible homes for them selves, and that was being done by Mr Massey. They had been told that taxation had been increased 10s 3d per head by the present Government, but thsy had not been told of the £l2O, 000 increases to railway workers, of the increases in teachers' "salaries, and of the pay of the police, and of the Marine Department, nor that the superannuation fund, which was alpiost bankrupt, had been put in a good position. Thesa things cost money, and were legacies of the late Government. Only two increases in taxation had been made by the Massey Government, and these were gin respect of the graduated land tasf and the

income tax, which affected only the I wealthy men. The speaker instanced ' the fact that the sawmill workers had peen brought under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, and their conditions improved. He here read a quotation from a labour organ denouncing the Liberal Government and a member of the audience interjected that it waa a scab paper. Continuing, Mr Wilson said State coal mines had been started some years ago and were run at a loss of £9OOO yearly. The people cf the large centres such as Wellington and Auckland got cheaper coal, hut the country districts got no benefit. He objected to contribute towards a benefit which was not universal to the Dominion. DEFENCE. In dealing with defence, the speaker said New Zealand had never stepped into a wiser thing than when it had adopted compulsory military training. Iri 1909 the first resolution proposed in the House by Mr Massey was in favour of the adoption of compulsory military training, and the Opposition voted against it. ' Two years later the measure waß brought in. He regretted to say the Empire was faced with one of the greatest trials in history, "and the wisdom of compulsory training was demonstrated. One of the greatest feats in transport was being undertaken by the Government in sending 8000 men and 300 0 horses 16,000 miles, and every little bit of trouble which arose was seized by ;the Opposition for party puroposes. He further ventured to assert if the canteen scandals of the South African war were 'compared with the recent canteen trouble the latter would sink into insignificance. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Referring to Legislative Council reform, Mr Wilson traced the actions of the Government in the matter, showing that the attempt to pass the bill in the Upper House had twice been defeated. Appointments had been made to the Council by the Government in order to get legislation passed, and the term of appointment had been fixed at three years instead of seven with the object of bringing aout an elective Council at the soonest possible time. He referred to the appointments of Labour and Liberal supporters as showing that the Government gave proper representation in the Chamber to all political parties. PUBLIC SERVICE. In dealing witn th 9 Public Service Mr Wilson said Mr Massey had kept his pledge to give the opportunity to every child in the country to obtain a Civil Service appointment apart from political pull. The Commissioner had said that doubtless a great reform such, as described would be opoossd by many in the service, where merit and not patronage should be recognised. If the Civil Service Commission did not succeed it would be a bad day for New Zealand. It had succeeded in Australia. He admired Mr Masaey for relingisbing the power of patronage because ho believed the public servants should bo free to rise on their ability. NAVAL POLICY.

Mr Wilson said ths naval policy of the Government was not fully understood, and had been adversely criticised by their opponents. Until 1912 the naval policy had not been considered a party question. The Government was accused of wishing to establish a toy navy. New Zealand had contributed a Dreadnought to the Empire and the ship had bean taken from New Zealand waters. When the ves-" eel wag taken for Home service we were promised other boats, but subsequently the British Government found these could not be spared. The Government determined to obtain one or two ships for the purpose of training. The Dominion contributed £IOO,OOO annually to Britain as a naval' subsidy, and Mr Massey offered to give £50.000 more if the promise were fulfilled. This was denounced by Sir Joßepb Ward as reckless and wild, but Sir Joseph Ward had offerer] £SOO, 000 to Britain for naval purposes, and the offer had been refused as tending to destroy the authority and responsibility of the Imperial Government in relation to its foreign policy Fiftv thousand as compared with five hundred thousand did not appear to be extreme recklessnesa. PENSIONS. In referring to some aspects of the last election, Mr Wilson said it had been circulated that If Mr Massey got into pow«r he would repeal the oldage pensions and other social legislation. On the contrary, every step taken by the Government had been in the direction of liberalism. The age limit had been reduced to sixty and anomalies had been adjusted, making for the improvement of conditions in respect to the pensions. The old soldiers had been provided for and now received £36 a year; in the case of widows who died provision had been made for the children where no provision had previously existed. Mr Wilso-5 concluded his address by a reference to the war. He hoped and trusted they would come through the war with a bright name and bright propsects and that peace would be assured to the wide wide world. He also made an appeal to his hearers to carry out the election contest in the spirit of fair play, giving each candidate a fair field and no favour, and not hitting below the belt.

QUESTIONS. At the conclusion of tfcs address a number of questions were put to the candidate, the first being a 3eries> by a persistent individual who had mounted the platform earlier in the evening, and had been accommodated with a chair. The first question related to a statement by Mr Wilson in the House to the effect that road officials had been suspended from the service and had been subsequently reinstated though the enquiry went against them.—Mr Wilson reiterated the statement, but declined to give names. Asked if he was in favour of old women driving on Mangaotaki road in its present state, Mr Wilson said he

presumed the question meant was he [ satisfied witht he state of the roads in i the district. He certainly was not, and had strenuously advocated road improvements ever since he had been in Parliament In reply to a question as to whether he was in favour of the method adopted in the appointment of Royd Garlick, Mr Wilson said he waa not. It would have been better liad the appoiintment been advertised: Still, he was sure the best man bad been appointed and so were the members of the Opposition.

Replying to a question as to the merits of first-past-the-post or the second ballot in an election Mr Wilson said he did not believe in the second ballot. He quoted Mr Atmore's denunciation of the second ballot, and stated ha was in favour of proportional representation. In connection with the proposal o f the Railway Commissioner to spend £3,200,000 on tha Main Trunk lines aid stations, the speaker said he did not favour all the proposals. It depnnded upon how they were presented to Parliament whether he would vote for or against them. He would oppose elaborate stations, but the traffic at Auckland and Wellington waa increasing so greatly that a comprehensive scheme was necessary As to whether he was in favour of allowing those who received advances from the State to insure where they pleased, Mr Wilson said he would allow free choice. In the case of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Association the settlers could insure cheapsr in that institution than in the State Department. The speaker eaid it was correct aB stated by the Massey Government that the surpluses of the previous administration were correct, (inasmuch as they included the land revenues which should have gone to Capital Account. The same questioner then asked why had those surpluses been proclaimed in London by the present Government in their loan prospectus. Mr Wilson replied that the prospectus was prepared by the High Commissioner, and that party politics should not be taken to England. In reply to further questions, Mr Wilson said he wouldn't be in favour of allowing the State to repurchase L.I.P. lands which had been freehold at the original valuation, and stated tha Government had given the freehold to holders of renewable leases. On the motion of Mr H. Vause, seconded by Mr Meingley, a vote of thanks to Mr Wilson for his address and of confidence in him as the representative of the Taumarunui elector' ate was proposed. Mr Langstone proposed as an amendment, and Mr Powell seconded, that no-confidence be substituted Eor confidence. On the resolutions being put to the meeting the outing waa fairly even, and the Mayor declared the motion carried. A vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding terminated the meeting.