IN REPLY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16193, 20 March 1913, Page 8

IN REPLY.

PRIME MINISTER’S POLICY SPEECH DISSECTED.

ADDRESS BY MR RUSSELL

MR MASSEY’S STATEMENTS CRITICISED.

Mr G. W. Russell, M.P., addressed a meeting of electors of the Avon district last night, and replied to the policy' speech delivered by tho Prime Minister in Christchurch a few days ago. The meeting was held in the Philiipstown School, and there was a large attendance of electors, amongst whom were many ladies. ' Before the time fixed for beginning the meeting it was found that one room would not he sufficient to hold those present. It was necessary, therefore, to use two rooms. The school has been constructed on a scheme which provides for a doorway between the two rooms. Mr Russell stood in the doorway, and thus was able to make liis voico heard in all parts of tho rooms, both of which were filled. The meeting was enthusiastic, and Mr Russell was frequently applauded. THE CHAIRMAN’S REMARKS. The chairman, Mr J. M. Taylor, said that Mr Russell wished first to give an account of his .stewardship to his constituents. Besides that, as the Prime Minister had placed one side of ,tho political position before the electors of New Zealand, Mr Russell wished to give the other side. He would speak not only to the residents of Philiipstown, but also to all the people of New Zealand. (Applause.) RECENT EVENTS'. Mr Russell, who was received with applause, thanked the people of Avon for returning him to Parliament at tho last election. Since that time, he said, events had marched in quick succession. Tiro, result of tho ejection was that Liberal candidates secured 235,000 votes, Conservative candidates 178,000 and Labour and Independent candidates 80,000. The proportions were:—Liberals 48 per cent, Conservatives 33J per cent, and Labourites and Independents 18] per cent. Sir Joseph Ward was still in oifico when Parliament met. Ho won the first division by the casting vote of the Speaker, and the second by a majority of two. Later on Sir Joseph, in fulfilment of a promise, retired l rom office, and a new leader, Mr Thomas Mackenzie, was appointed. That gentleman formed a Government, and the speaker was selected as one |of the Ministers. (Applause.) Upon that Government all the abuse, all the misrepresentations, all the hatred, malice and all uncharitp.bleness of tho Massey Party was heaped. It was a Government composed of clean, upright men, animated by one desire, namely, to uphold the best traditions of the Liberal Party and to serve New Zealand faithfully. (Applause.) Ho felt that the honour done to him should be regarded really as an honour to his constituents. That Government had been described as a stop-gap Government, a Government of men who seized the opportunity to bleed the. taxpayers by travelling over the country, and so on. He need not, therefore, make any apology when he was addressing his constituents for referring to somo of tho work ho had done during the threo months he held the, position of a Minister. (Applause.) A MINISTER’S WORK. As Minister of Internal Affairs ho had organised and brought to a head the most representative conference hold in New Zealand. It was the Local Government Conference, as a result of which a Bill to reform and consolidate local government bodies in New Zealand was placed before Parliament. As Minister of Public Health be conferred with Hospital Boards and other institutions. He increased, the salary limitation foj- St Helens Hospitals from £3 a week to £4 a week, arranged for the establishment of a library on tuberculosis and for tlie printing of publications referring to the spread of consumption- Ho released Dr Truby King from bis duties at Seaeliff in order that that officer might undertake his recent crusade against infantile mortality ; he arranged for Dr King’s coming visit to England as a delegate to an international conference on the same subject. He arranged with the Minister of Education for the appointment of medical experts to State schools. He visited Auckland in order to settle an unfortunate trouble in the hospital there. He was successful in his object. Finally, Jong' after he left office, _he was selected by the Auckland Hospital Board, in conjunction with Mr Massey and Mr Rhodes, to appoint a medical superintendent for that institution. (Applause.) It was a compliment that he highly appreciated. As Minister of Immigration, he tackled the question of domestic help for mothers bv arranging for a trial shipment of fifty young women. As Minister in charge of Mental Hospitals, he visited the institutions lie controlled, and dealt with the position at the Avondale Mental Hospital .at Auckland. As Minister in charge of the Government Planting Office he had revised tho regulations and had arranged for increased salaries amounting to over £2OOO a year.. As Minister in charge of the Dominion Museum, he had arranged for the preparation of plans for a new building, which was badly needed. Ho did not make those statements in a spirit of egotism or bombast, hut as tho Government ot which he was a member had been called a stop-gap Government, -lie felt that it was due to him, and due to the electors, to let them know something of what he had done quite independent of the ordinary work of a Minister. (Applause.) WHAT HAS THE COUNTRY GAINED ?

But Mr Massey came into power, and Mr Mackenzie was appointed. High Commissioner. What had the country .rained by the change? (A Voice: “A lot!” Another Voice: “The organisation of the Labour Party. Hear, hear). Tlio answer to the question must be: Nil. It had lost temporarily, at any rate —the services of ono of its best public men, Sir Joseph Ward -—(applause)—who, as financier and Postmaster-General had an Imperial status and had done splendid work for this country. The country had obtained in his place an honest and wellmeaning but incapable man, whose ideas were limited to road matters, who possessed none of the qualities of a statesman, who was timid and hesitating, and Had no breadth of vision, who all his political life had been associated with the Conservative Party of reaction, and who had at his back all tho reactionary and Tory elements in the dominion. The change had resulted in no good and many evils, not the least of which was a Labour unrest —(applause)—such as had never been known in New Zealand before. The splendid progress in social questions, of which the widows’ pension was one of tho latest evidences, mado by Now Zealand tinder Liberal Administrations, had been checked. He believed that those changes were only temporary. Tho Liberals and Labourites were united —A Voice: “No, no!” —more closely than they had been for tho past ten‘years. (Applauso.) On one point, they absolutely agreed. (Voices: “No, no!”). That point was that the Massey Government must go out. (Voice: “For life.”) After tho next election the song would be, “ Mas-

soy’s in the Cold,. Cold Ground of Opposition onco more!” (Laughter.) NOT A LIBERAL GOVERNMENT. Tho people had been assured that the new Government would lie a democratic one, unfetterd and untrammelled by the old Conservative Party. When the Cabinet was announced it was seen that Messrs Massey, Kerries, Allen, Fraser, Rhodes, Herdninn and Bell were all members of that old party. The only new members were Air Fisher —(a Voico: “Rats!”) —who a few years ago was-a New Liberal, and Dr Pomare. Tho new elements in the House representing small farmers, who had been attracted to tlio standard of so-called reforms, were ignored. Air Fisher, at his election, had pledged himself not to support any Government formed by Air Massey, and in February last year had declared in the House that he would not support a freehold Government. Quito recently he declared on the West Coast that consistency was tho rofugq of fools. Evidently, principle counted for little in his eyes. WHERE IB ITS POLICY? Wlir.t was the new Government’s policy? (A Voice: “Grab!” Another Voice: “ Batons!”) Ho could not tell them, nor yet could Air Alassey, if his Christchurch speech was any indication of that gentleman’s information in that direction. As far as the speaker could sco, the Government was running vory much, as it did before, hut under a new set cf men. Already it had found that its only hope was to try to run the country as nearly as possible as its predecessors had run it. (A Voice: “Borrowed plumes!”) He had looked in vain through tho reports of Mr Massey’s Christchurch speech for any statesmanlike indication of tho Government’s attitude in regard to such questions as laud reform, social reform legislative and electoral reform, local government reform, improvement of labour troubles, reform of the tariff in order to help industries, and so on. It was a poor effort-, ancl it showed the utter vacuity of tho ministerial mind upon all the great questions of the day. POLICE. A good deal had been said in regard to the police at tho Christchurch meeting. It was not tho first time the same cry had been raised. (Hear, hear.) A few months ago Mr Alassey was honoured in his own city of Auckland. On that occasion bodies of police were imported from Waihi and Huntly, and the speaker belioved that 300 assembled in Auckland city to protect tho poor Prime Minister—from a danger that never existed. Mr Massey was smugglod into the Town Hall m his own city more than ail hour ancl a half before the meeting opened, and he was unable to leavo until tbo police had made a ruse and had drawn tho crowd away by pretending to take Air Massey out by a certain door, and when tho crowd thronged there to cheer their champion, and to hail their demi-god (laughter) the police bustled him quietly out by another door and got him safely to his hotel. It would be quito wrong to suppose that he was afraid. He was merely timid that his constitution might not stand the endearments and caresses intended for him. (Laughter.) But after such an incident as that in Auckland it was surely the height of effrontery for the “ Auckland Herald” to sneer at the -Christchurch people because they gave Air Massey, on bis own encouragement and incentive, a lively, rollicking, good-tempered meeting, which he confessed ho thoroughly enjoyed. MR MASSEY AND THE AIONEY MARKET. The London market was a true test of the value of colonial stocks. What was thought of the Alassey Government on that market P , There had been a general fall in colonial stocks, but it was noticeable that while New Zea : land 3] per cents bad fallen under tlio Massey Government £4 10s per cent in value, that of NeW,South Wales remained at £96, and Victoria’s liad dropped only £2 and was worth £3 per centum more than New Zealand’s. Tho position was shown by the follow-

The position was clear. The London money-lenders did not trust tho Massey Government, and regarded this country’s stocks as of less value than those of either New South W ales or Victoria. Before the Massey Government’s advent to office \ New Zealand held a very different position. PIE-CRUST PROAIISES.

The promises on which the Government climbed into office were: —(l) That it would economise. (2) That it would reduce taxation. (3) That it would avoid excessive borrowing, meaning of course'that its predecessors had plunged recklessly and had piled up debt in order to remain in office ana buy a continued term. (4) That it would greatly increase settlement in the country. (5) That it would purify public life from evils which had grown! up. (6) That it would restore to Parliament power which had. been filched from it. (7) That it would carry out the Liberal policy in its entirety. (8) That it would inaugurate the millennium. (9) That it would give everybody a square deal. Not one of those promises had been. kept. The Government was walking as gingerly as cats on hot bricks. It was afraid to initiate .any new lino of policy, and was content simply, to keep as near as possible to the line followed by the Ward and. tho Mackenzie Governments. Where it had departed from those lines, as in the case of the Public Service Board, it had got hopelessly into the mud. As to purity of Government, the Public Works Estimates, with their roads and bridges grants, came down, last session in exactly the same old way. Not only so, hut while the Government stopped ten out of twenty-three railways in course of construction and had thrown some 3000 men out of Government employment, it bad authorised seven new railways, 101 miles in length, one of whiqli was in tlie Prime Minister’s own electorate. (A Voice: “ Waihuhn !”) Mr Massey specially promised in his pre-election platform : —(1) To keep borrowing within reasonable bounds. (2) To reduce taxation wherever' possible in order to lessen the cost of living. (3) To give all facilities possible l for men with small capital to get on tho land. (4) To give tho old age pension to women at sixty. years. (6) To reform the economic system of the dominion in order to promote industrial peace. Not one of those promises had been kept. Borrowing was going on just tbo same as before, and the increase of the debt this year would be quite as much as it was last year. Not one item of

taxation, except tlio graduated land tax had been reduced. No fresh facilities had been given to men of small capital to get on tho land, and Air Alassey never mentioned in his speeches the landless men. .The women were still waiting for the extension of the old ago pension scheme. As for industrial speech, there was under the Massey Government an industrial war which happily had never been known in New Zealand before. As a matter of fact, the country’s politics had now entered upon an epoch of cant, humbug and sliam. (Applause.) THE GOVERNMENT’S AUDACITY. During tho year ended Alarch 21, 1912, the public revenue was £603,099 more than the estimates, and the expenditure £264,000 loss than the estimates, consequently there was a surplus of £867,000 in tho Treasury on April 1 last year, and the Government had been actually able to use on public works this year £750,000 of that sum. Yet it had the audacity to speak of financial difficulties left as a legacy. In the previous year tho Ward Government had only £500,000 of surplus to transfer to public works. The Alas«ey Government had £750,000. It took office at a time of .prosperity. The revenue had continued to roll in in a steady stream, and he would not bo surprised if the surplus was nearly as large this year as it was last year.

NO ECONOMIES POSSIBLE. Olio of tlie things that the Government had been pledged to introduce had been an economical administration, having endeavoured to create tlio impression that previously the administration had been extravagant. One of the cries of the Massey Party had been “ Let us get at the pigeon-holes,” but the party had been in power for nine or ten months and not one intance of any impropriety, not a suspicion of “ graft ’ had they been able to unearth. The party had ceased to mention the pigeon-holes. But the Government also had been unable to effect any economies in the administration, because it Ead been realised that the administration could not bo made any cheaper. (Applause.) In tho year before the present Government took office the ordinary expenditure had been £6,433,000, but although the Massey Government had had no general election to pay for (a cost of £120,000), its expenditure had shown an increase of £522,000 on tho amount for the year before, nnd when the Supplementary Estimates were brought down a further £142,000 was provided, making an increase of £664,000. _ A very largo part of the .additional £142.000 was for additions to salaries, not for men getting up. to £l5O jier annum, but officers receiving frohi £6OO to £BOO a year. The Hon F. M. B. Fisher, on the West Coast, had stated that the Government had increased the salaries of tho officers in the Government employ by £28,000. It was interesting to notice that at Botorua, where there were a number of Government officials, there were provided in the Supplementary Estimates increases for forty officers. And Rotorua was represented in the House by. that apostle of purity, the Hon \V. H. Henries. (Laughter-) As a matter, of fact, the Government was indulging in wholesale bribery, and was sweetening up the people in view of the next election. No economies had been effected, and the Government stood convicted of having got into office by false pretences. The Massey Government made promises, and if it could not fulfil £Tiem the members of the Ministry, if they were honourable men, would admit their failure and retire from the Treasury benches. THE SAVINGS BANK. Turning to the Post Office Savings Bank, Mr Russell said that during the last quarter in which the Ward Government was in power the deposits had exceeded the withdrawals by £196,000, and the quarter during tho Mackenzie Government’s term of . office showed a similar excess, amounting to £218,000. But when the Massey Government took office tho working men and women had shown what thoy thought of the Government bv withdrawing during the first quarter £46,000 more than they deposited. The following quarter saw the excess of withdrawals rise to £92,000. Tho position was that year after year tho Liberal Government had been ablo to borrow from the Savings Bank for development works, but the Massey Government,- by the people’s withdrawal, had been debarred from borrowing, and that had placed them in a financial difficulty. The official figures showed that in the September quarter the Massey Government had been £284,634 worse off than the Liberal Government at the same time in the previous year, and that in the December quarter tho Government was £237,012 worse off, making a total of £521,640 that the working men would not lend Mr Massey through the Savings Bank. He defied Mr Massey to contradict that statement. Mr Massey since then had stated, that the position had improved, and that during December the deposits had exceeded tho withdrawals. Mr Russell said i/bat lie hoped it had, hut he would . advise the Government to so order its finances that it would not have to depend on the Savings Bank, because the Massey Party did not have the confidence of the masses. (Applause.) INTEREST ON SAVINGS BANK DEPOSITS. Mr Russell said that he had urged in the House'that the Government should pay to tho Savings Bank for loans from it interest equal to that paid to the English money-lender. (Applause.) If it ever came to his lot again to he in power he would do his best to see that the Savings Bank loans were made on the ruling rate of interest. In fact, it would be a good thing to pay more, in order to encourage thrift. (Applause.) THE SURPLUS. A charge that had often been brought against Mr Seddon and Sir Joseph Ward was that they had, by underestimating the revenue and over-esti-mating tlie expenditure, been able to show a large surplus. 'The Hon James Allen had said that the Minister of Finance should have no surplus, but in his latest Budget Mr Allen had estimated that the revenue would decrease by £84,140, when at the time lie had had before him the returns for the June quarter, showing that the revenue for those three months marked an increase of £234,000. The accounts for tho three quarters to date showed an increase of £351,000, and there was still to como the best quarter of tho vear In tlie previous year the revenue "had increased by £735,000, but Mr Allen had had so little faith in himKolf and his party that he had estimated for a decrease of £84,140. Of course tlie results of the chickenhearted Ministers estimating would be a large surplus. (Laughter.) PUBLIC ACCOUNTS. Sir Joseph Ward had often been told that the public accounts should be given greater publicity, and in 1911 tho Ward Government had promised that the Canadian system should be adopted showing all details of public expenditure in a return before tho House. The return had been in hand when the Mackenzie Government was in office, but the printing office was busy, and so ho (Mr Russell) had bad circulated sample pages so that the Massey Government could not go back on the system. The returns would throw a lot of light on public affairs. (Applause.) LOCAL GOVERNMENT. Mr Russell then dealt at length with the local government proposals introduced as a result of tho Local Government Conference m Wellington, under

tho Mackenzie Ministry. Tho Massey Government was pledged up to the eyes to local government reform, he said, but would probably find some oxcuso for dodging what was a thorny and difficult question unless handled firmly. PARLIAMENTARY REFORMS. Referring to tho Government’s proposals for the reform of the Legislative Council, Mr Russell said that it was necessary to have an elected House, and then ho proceeded to deal with .the electoral law. Tho second ballot was dead, but so far the Government had made no announcement as to what were its intentions. Proportional representation had-boon successfully tried in Belgium, Finland and Tasmania, but it would require too much educational work to make it practicable for the next elections, and he thought that the preferential voting on the single transferable vote system would be adopted. But it was the duty of tho members of the House to find out from the Government definitely what was its policy on that point before allowing any business to proceed. He believed that all the electioneering up and down the dominion meant that as soon as the second ballot was out of the way an attempt would be ma-do to get a dissolution during the coming season. It would bo advisable, therefore, for the Liberals and the Labourites to organise and to insure tho return of Progressives to the House. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION. The Public Service Commission was next dealt with, Mr Russell criticising the personnel of the Commission and its powers, which he condemned as tyrannical. One point, he said, was that while a member of Parliament who endeavoured to help any boy to become a telegraph messenger was to be haled before the Courts and fined., the member could fight for all he was worth to secure the appointment of a lawyer friend as a Stipendiary Magistrate, as a Judge of the Supremo Court or the Arbitration Court. The Commission would cost £6OOO a year, and it was estimated by the Government that it would save £60,000 a year, which meant that 240 men receiving £250 per year would have to go. Already there was discontent in the service, and one officer in Wellington of long experience in the service had threatened to chastise one of the commission in satisfaction for an insult offered to him by one of the Government’s appointees. _ No charges of favouritism or nepotism had ever been proved against the Liberal Government, and there was no excuse for the appointment of the Commission. The author of this nrecious measure was the Hon A. L. Eterdman, the Minister of Justice—(laughter)—who controlled tho police, and Labour had heard something of Mr Herd-man during the past year. (Laughter.) But the big Department controlled by Mr Herdman was removed from the control of the Commissioners. Mr Herdman did not want any interference in his appointments. He might want to appoint himself Chief Justice if there was a vacancy, and he would not want that to bo left to Commissioners. Mr Russell agreed that stipendiary Magistrates should be removed from political influence, but at present Mr Herdman retained his patronage and the people would probably see the effect of it. (Applause.) ' LAND MATTERS. Dealing with the Southland land case, Mr Russell said that Mr Massey’s Act of last session had intended to" give tho entire freehold, but the Liberal Act of 1892 had provided that the tenant had nd right to the minerals. It was a Liberal safeguard that had saved the Government. Mr Russell declared that the granting to tho leasehold tenants of the right to the froeliokh would sweep the question of the tenure off the political chess-board, but the land question would still be unsettled. Tho land hunger was as bad as it ever was, both in the town and the country. He did not think that many tenants would exchange the Liberal leasehold tenure for the Conservative freehold when they looked at the figures. On a holding worth £IOOO tho annual charges amounted to £4O, on which there w r as a rebate of £4, but if tlie land was held as freehold the £IOOO at 5i per cent per annum made an annual charge of £55, and in addition there was the land tax on £SOO. £2 Is Bd, which meant a loss of £2l Is Bd.' Small holdings wore necessary and a vigorous . settlement policy was required, but the Massey Party would have a difficult task in overtaking the Liberal Party’s rate of settlement. In the last five years £7,000,000 had been spent in land settlement, and 8134 adults had been placed on 2,640,000 acres. Over a million acres of Native lands were settled in two years. LAND TAXATION. Dealing with the taxation of land values, Mr Russell said that it was stated that Mr Massey had thrown the landowners to the wolves, but they were sticking to Mr Massey too closely to be treated so unkindly. The Government had boldly reduced the taxation on £SOOO unimproved value, which might represent capital value of over £10,000,000, but the graduated land tax was said to have been increased on properties of j over £30,000. It worked out as follows on estates up to that amount:

The treasurer had stated that estates over £30,000 would come under an increased graduated land tax. It was a brave thing to do. There were 320 private people and companies owning estates of over £30,000, and it oid not want much courage -to offend 320, but there were thousands of large estates that were untouched. As a complement, the Government, had extended the definitions of improvements, which nullified the small increases made in graduated land taxation. _ It had allowed all plantations aa improvements. CHEAP MONEY.

Mr Russell criticised the Government’s action in stopping the Government’s advances. If the Massey Government had abandoned the large landowners it had certainly taken the big mortgagees to its arms. Last year a northern farmer had sold 8000 acres of land at £lB per acre. In effect, lie really .became the mortgagee of tho land, and avoided paying the graduated land tax. Farmers were becoming money-lenders and tho people who ruled the country were the moneylenders. Cheap' money had been the life of Now Zealand’s progress. the Liberal Government's Advances Department had earned a profit of £530,000, in addition to ensuring cheap money, but tlio big legal firms wanted to kill that scheme, and the Government was playing into their hands. On Tuesday, Mr Massey had said : >» e should be very careful to encourage investors to invest their money in hiew Zealand. If this were done, it would not. bo necessary for the . Government to borrow so much money in the tutuie as in tho past.” It really meant that the monev would como through tho legal firms, and that would mean 6 per cent instead of 4J per cent. ,o warned tho people of Now Zealand that 6 per cent might become the fixed rate

of interest if the Massey Government remained in office. The supporters of the Massey Party knew it, and on the Saturday aftor Mr Allen’s Budget appeared the rate of interest rose. 11l New Zealand there was £90,000 ; 000 on registered mortgage and approximately £10,000,000 on unregistered mortgage. If tho rate of interest rose 1 per cent it made a different to the people of New Zealand of £1,000,000 per annum. He would bo told that the rates had gone up everywhere, but if the Government were to borrow £2,000,000 and lend it to tlio people at the rate at which it got it, 4 per cent or at 4J per cent, the rate of interest in the dominion would fall. But the Government’s policy was to force the borrower into the open market for the benefit of their friends. The Liberals’ cheap money scheme had been a success. It had resulted in a profit to the State in its operations, and had helped struggling farmers and workers, and if it were squelched it would be a crime against tho dominion itself. (Applause.) • LOAN FLOTATION. • The Conservatives screamed with horror at Sir Joseph Ward’s loan of £5,000,000 in 1910 and Mr Myers’s loan of £4,050,000 in 1912- Mr Massey had been making the most reckless statements over that matter, and had been booming his colleague as a heaven-sent Minister of Finance. He would compare the two loans. Mr Myers’s was for 4} millions at 3J per cent at 99. That was, he accepted £99 for every £IOO worth of paper, and paid 3£ per cent for it. It was a short-dated loan for two years, because the money market was disturbed and it was expected by the loan agents in London, who advised the Government in those matters, that things would be better when it came to renewing tho loan in two years. But what had Mr Allen done? He had raised 3J millions for forty years at 4 per cent and received only 98 for every £IOO of paper. To show how well New Zealand stood when Mr Myers raised his loan, the speaker could state that a few weeks after the country got its money at 3} at 99, Queensland went on tho market and liad to pay 3J for its two millions at 96. MR ALLEN'S ACHIEVEMENT.

What had Mr Allen done? By taking off 2 per cent and selling at 98 he had lost £70,000, and had to pay interest for forty years at 4 per cent on that sum, which the dominion never ■ received, but which it had to pay back. During the currency of the loan the dominion would pay £112,000 interest on £70,000 it had never making a total loss under that nead of £182,000. Again the rise in the rate of interest above Mr Myers’ loan from 3J to 4 per cent entailed on three million five hundred thousand an annual increase of £17,500 a year, which would mean during forty years, the currency of the loan, that the dominion would pay £700,000 more in interest than would have been payable if the loan had been raised at the same rate, 3J per cent, as that at which Mr Myers raised his loan last year. It meant that this country-had to pay altogether £882,000 for having an apprentice like Mr Allen at the helm. Mr _ Massey said that his colleague had raised the loan at £4 5s 6d, but when particulars were received of the cost of underwriting, commissions, stamp duty, exchanges, etc., it would probably amount to at least £4 10s, the worst and most expensive loan the country had raised in many years.

THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE. Mr Russell protested strongly against Mr Allen’s action in seeking without the consent of Parliament to commit New Zealand to the promise of an expeditionary force. Mr. Allen had received absolutely no authority to make tho statement he had made on behalf of New. Zealand. A distinct offer had been made! by Mr Allen but Parliament had not sanctioned it and the people of the country had not- dismissed it. Mr Allen certainly should have asked tli9 authority of Parliament. (A Voice: “Of the people.”) The speaker strongly objected to one of the men who had denounced Sir Joseph Ward for the manner in which ho had offered the Dreadnought taking it upon himself to make offers of the description made by Mr Allen while in Britain. LIBERALS AND LABOURITES.

1 In conclusion, Mr Russell said tha Labour should take an active am united part in politics. Tlie Liberals welcomed Labour’s activity. (A Voice: “ You will have to get into it.”) For twenty years the Liberals and Labourites had marched together to victory. It was only the division of the two forces that had let the Conservative back to power. United, the twe parties could again secure the reins of government and march forward again. (Hear, hear.) He hoped that there would be a policy of conciliation and compromise on both sides—(applause) —and that onco more they would work together. (A Voice: “We will try it-.”) If they could not have completo union let them work for an alliance, so that all the progressive forces of the _ dominion might operate together against those of reaction, stagnation and self-interest. New Zealanders lived in a glorious country and had a great heritage. Let them see that they passed on to their children a land where they would have opportunities to better themselves, where social injustice was unknown and where peace, happiness and plenty abounded. (Applause.)

QUESTIONS. In. reply to question, Mr Russell said that if it came to a question of voting in Parliament for the Massey Government or Labour he certainly would vote for Labour. Ho would ascertain what Government ordered that the numbers should be removed from constables’ helmets, and would make the information public. He thought that the military system was being pushed too far—(applause)—but ho felt that there must be a defence scheme, especially in view of tho fact that Japan had decided to spend £36,000,000 on her navy. The present scheme must be given a thorough trial. THANKS AND CONFIDENCE.

Air G. M. Butterwortli moved—- “ That this meeting gratefully recognises the able and successful manner in which Mr Russell carried out his ministerial duties, cordially thanks him for the excellent speech he has delivered this evening, and expresses its entire confidence in him as tho member for Avon.” Air G. W. White seconded the motion, which was carried by a large majority amidst cheers, ana also cheers for Labour.

mg figures: — New Zealand— 4 July 17, 1912. . 103 Mar. 14, 1918. 100 Fall in Price. 2 34 . 941 90 44 3 . 814 78 64 New South Walea4 . 103 101 9 3J . 96 96 Unchanged 3 . 854 82 84 Victoria— 4 . 1004' 100 4 34 . 93 93 2 3 . 82 73 i

Ward’s Tax. Massey’s Tax. s £ s. d. £ e. d. 5,000 1 G 0 0 13 0 7.000 3 12 11 2 14 S 9.000 7 0 7 o 17 2 15,000 25 8 9 21 9 8 25,000 62 2 1 61 16 11 30,000 93 16 0 89 16 10