MODERN LIBERALISM.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16492, 6 March 1914, Page 11

MODERN LIBERALISM.

MR Q,!YY. RUSSELL, M.F., AT

PHILLIPSTOWN

CONSERVATIVE ADMINISTRATION "CRITICISED.

■ At the Phillipstown State School last evening Mr\Y. Russell;'M.P. for ' Avon; delivered a post-sessional address to his constituents. Mr . J.-M. Taylor presided, and there was a crowded attendance. Messrs H. G. Ell, L. M. Ei Sideyy G. Witty and J. M’Coin.bs, . members of Parliament, were .ipipsent. The chairman, in opening the proceedings. said_ that it was ' extremely • gratifying to see so large an attendance on such a wet night. . The presence of so many members of Parliament was much appreciated. Mr Russell would not be speaking; alone to. that evening’s audience. He would bo speaking to the whole of the people of the dominion,'for' he would ; deal generally with matters of Liberal principle and practice, ..aswell_,as with, the failure • of tne present'admitHsffatiou- to fulfil the promises m'ad©: to-the electors during tls* last electoral campaign.!., Mr Russellj'- whd 'wa^’received with hearty applause, prefaced his remarks by expressing his appreciation of the compliment implied in the presence of bo many Parliamentarians of his party, and also in the presence of the member for Lyttelton, Mr’J. M’Combs. THE DATE MR G. LAUREXSON. Before proceeding with Ins address proper, Mr Russell made reference to the death of the late' Mr George Laurenson, M.P., whom he characterised as a man of deep Christian Reeling, .a Liberal from- conviction, ancL a sincere disciple of Democracy. New . {f&alahjd. was the loser by the death of - such’ * ’man. •v ; J THE "LONG" SESSION'. to deal with the events of session,- Mr Russell said the session was in many ways a most important one. In the first place, through the incompetence and unpreparednees of the Government it was the longest on record—only ten; days short of six months. f WHO WAS TO BLAMEP~

It had,»been 'alleged -that the Opposition was 1 to blame for the length of the session, but what were the facts? On Addjessdn-Replv . twenty- " six \ members of •. the 'Government Party, sixteen of the Opposition- find six Independent and Labour members spoke. In the Financial; Debate speeches were delivered by fifteen-Gov-ernment supporters, thirteen Oppositionists, ..Ana, - six ~lndependent and - - Labour members. In the face of these figures it was absurd to 6ay that the Opposition “ obstructed the business.” S ; THE FIRST STO^EW-ALL. While he was dealing with this matter it might be as well for him to clear up certain. 'regarding, ths stonewall incidents. , ' The first stonewall occurred., in the,,. debate on . the Estimates in Committee of Supply. • It could not' be- denied that the Estimates passed ra- . pidly through the 1 committee ' Up to September 12 ; when the Department of Internal Affairs was reached,. the estimates involving i : an expenditure of nearly half a ■ million; , This „Der parfment “faitedto produce ' reports on Mental f Hospitals, Tourist' JDepartment, Public Health and the Cook Islands. The Opposition held up the Estimates for these departments, refusing to allow them to pass . until the. reports were brought down. It was a long fight, lasting from Friday, September 12, till Thursday morning, September 18, (with an interval of .Sunday), but the ..Opposition, wqn. The whole of the Reports were presented to Parliament, and the broad principle was laid down ogee., and for all. that in future no moneywould be passed:by. the House for any Department until the'report for the previous year was, presented; THE.HAURAKI INIQUITY.

The second stonewall-took place over the famous Hauraki peninsula.freehold clause id'the Lknd Bill. -When the Bill was . -in,: ■•committee.. it was seen that Clause 25 made. provision for granting " the freehold, “exclusive of minerals,” ,to j ail persons - holding pastoral leases in the Hauraki mining district, which was represenced in the House by Mr T. W. Rhodes, ‘ one of the ‘rats’” Although the -original clause said “ exclusive of. minerals,” Mr Rhodes moved, and the Prime Minister accepted,.: the following addition to “ Notwithstanding .anything., ip. this section, . the lend - ; gfiall .be, .subject to the jprovisibns'df' thd Mining Abt, "190 b, in toe same ■manner: as 'if it: were Na-tive-ceded land, and all fees, royal tics and 5 rents received ' under that Act in respect of any land the fee simple of which has-been acquired Os aforesaid shall he payable to the owner of the land.” This iniquitous clause was ruled out of order by the Speaker , on, technical grounds, and the Government modified it, but the fact that" 'Mr Massey accepted it from his new recruit was sufficiently significant. There were two . very ugly aspects to this matter. Mr Rhodes and his son held 2000 acres of the land affected and this clause applied only to Mr Rhodes’s constituency and not to lands held under the same conditions in Nelson (24,000 acres) and in Westland (9000 acres).- - <t, ■ .. REPEALING THE SECOND ' -BALLOT. !; Il'The/fthird stonewall occurred in con- ': aecsibh '-with' * a' great 'constitutional . Question—the repeal of the second balthe Massey Government took .-office it-inserted in the Budget of 1912 '. thesd words: “The Government is ; ffilly sensible of the great necessity for electoral reform, and in due course a measure will be submitted for the !£ consent of members, by winch the system of the second ballots will.be re- > pealed and . another method of election ' substituted.”'-;With the lesson of Grey however, .the Government "finally proposed to repeal the i second ‘ ballot, substituting nothing . whatever in its place, but reverting to ■ the pJ4; “ first .past the post ”, system. ;i . A grbatj fight took place over' this. ' The Opposition was fighting for a clean and against - the power of money to put up candidates as voteglitters. In the end the Opposition Was beaten, but how was it beaten P ■ It was beaten by. a Chairman of Committees and a Speaker who invented a closure —a guillotine—to stifle the discussion and to enable this iniquitous assassination of the rights of the people •to b,e carried,.out, Throughout that fighVtfie Opposition adhered strictly to the letter of the Standing Orders of the House: - '• They had now introduced the closure in Parliament, hut it was done without • the authority of Parliament itself. Its application was at the caprice of one, or possibly two men, the Chairman of ' Committees and. -.the Speaker-. It would be for Parliament itself, however, to settle how far and-under what circumstances the closure was to be ap- • ipliedr - . :vf

v TRANSFERABLE VOTE. * -rks Liberal Party stood for the trans- ; ferable vote system. Under propers' tional representation the rural constituencies would, be too large to be ■forked satisfactorily, while tho country p districts could never be induced to relinquish their local members. The transferable vote gave the advantages i ; <jf the second ballot while eliminating • |he extra expense and other very un-desirable-features connected with a . cecond-poll. • Meantime it was being rumoured

that Mr Massey would propose proportional representation for the cities, leaving the rural electorates to elect members by ■ minorities, but it would;be ridiculous to have, two systems of representation working side by side in one country. Any attempt to initiate 6uch an anomaly would meet with the strongest hostility from the Liberal Party. , 1 THE LIBERAL LEADERSHIP. During the 1912. session and down to September 15, 1913, the Liberal Party • was without- a ’ iead'er/tlie management being in the hands ■ of a. committee. They put up a gallant fight, but the scheme could not be continued. On September 15 the leadership was accepted by Sir Joseph YVard at the unanimous request of the party, and from -that date lie assumed complete control and directed, its , tactics and operations. Sir Joseph Ward’s recent utterances showed that he was keenly alive to the responsibilities of his high office as leader of the great Liberal Party. He had declined to announce. a policy at present, as he considered it imprudent to offer proposals which were likely to be stolen by the enemy, and also because he desired public attention to be concentrated on the failures and shortcomings of the Massey Government. In this line of. actjan ho was supported by the party. -'At the same time tho. speaker held that-there must be a clear' definition of the fixed and unalterable principles for which the Liberal Party stood. When the policy was announced he hoped it would be so clear and distinctive in its Liberalism that, no Conservative party' could appropriate it. He also emphasised ' that— Liberalism must be"founded on principles, and its legislation must be the expression! of those principles. They were now engaged ill the work of re-creating the' Liberal Party, and its foundations must be laid deep and solid. Mere . opportunism was useless. They must fix the goal in their mind’s eye, and steadily work towards it.' He believed the people were ready for a forward policy. For twenty-one -years-t;'the Liberal Party had led the way, and other .countries had been glad to follow in their steps. He hoped they were-now'about to start another era. of Liberalism, and lie felt sure that if the people again entrusted the party with the task of governing the country the Liberal Party would again justify their confidence. As 'their member, and as one of tho rank and file of the Liberal Party; he would that evening express his personal convictions on some matters, hut in doing so ho was in no way committing . either ! the' leader or the party to'his views. ‘ \ THE CONTENDING PARTIES.

In every country, where self-govern-ment .existed the,-contending forces of Liberalism and Conservatism would be found—Conservatism seeking to con-, serve and uphold existing, interests, privileges and rights, while Liberalism attacked all monopolies, privileges and interests -.employed 'to the detriment, and injury, of. the. masses. Conservatism sought to protect the rich and well-to-do.. Liberalism aimed ,at helping the poor, not by levelling down or unjustly expropriating any man from his rightful possessions, but by educating the people as to their ‘natural and constitutio'n'al rights:, by lessening the disparities -caused by poverty, and above all, by raising the standards of living, of. education and of responsibility. When they , went back to office at., next election., the. Liberals would 'pifck' up !their' humanitarian work, at the point where it was dropped in July, 1912; ‘when the':! Mackenzie Government was ousted from office. ONLY THE. FRINGE.

Up to the present, however, only the fringe of the problems of poverty and disease nad been touched.' It would be. the duty of Liberalism to tackle sickness, incapacity, ' ;r - ' Unefiiployment, ignorance, incompetence, prostitution, immorality,, the • gambling evil and -the drink evil, with the wholo force of the capital, machinery and power of the State...

He was not called upon to say by what methods Liberalism would deal in detail, with these'problems. They must judge by what the Liberals had done in the past what they would; do in the future. ?■■■■ LIBERAL FUNDAMENTALS. '

Mr Russell then proceeded to define what lie regarded as. the fundamental principles of Liberalism, as follows: 1. Government by the people for the people, and not for any one class, section or interest. Arising out . of this were the following popular rights: (a) To use the national' revenues and credit-to. defeat monopoly and reduce the, cost of living., (b) To compel sub-division ... of lafids to the utmost limits of profitable occupation. (c) To set a standard of remuneration in the public services that would react upon all public and private services and employments. (d) To use the national revenue and -credit for the development of the national estate and the creation of public wealth. ■■ (e) To'retain the undiscovered mineral wealth of the country and to work’the same for the common weal. (f) To establish State farms, factories and workshops in order to provide employment for the delicate and infirm and those who had passed the meridian of life. 2. The right of every child to good health and the highest education practicable. 3. The right of every person . to medical and legal assistance. ' 4. The duty and responsibility of the State to assist parents ,'irt rearing families and of appropriately 'providing for tho old age of those, who had done so. , , 5. The right of every honourable and right-living man and woman to a reasonable share of the comfort and happiness of life. FINANCE. Before the Government took office they promised certain things. They, promised to reduce, taxation,, to reduce expenditure and to borrowing. There had been no reduction of taxation, but rather a substantial increase. The Year Book showed that during its first year of office the Massey Government increased taxation by. 3s lid per head of the efitire population. The Government had signally tailed to reduce expenditure. Mr Massey, in his election speech in 1911, declared that under the Ward Government the. expenditure, had increased by £2,000,000 in five years, or at the rate of £400,000 per year. Wliat was. Mr Massey’s record? During his first year of office the expenditure increased £741,000, but in making this estimate the Treasurer took- credit for reducing the Internal Affairs expenditure by £123,000, the cost of the previous.year of the general election and the census. If that ,£123,000 were added to Mr Massey’s total, his increase in expenditure the first year would have been £804,000. which was not bad for a careful and economical Government. Here • let him say that the , Opposition recognised that expenditure must grow. Railways,, education, post, office and other expenditures must increase as tho country developed. But Mr Massey did not say that before the election of 1911.' On the contrary, he charged the Liberal Government with reckless extravagance and got votes on that promise to reduce expenditure. He had not fulfilled . that promise. Ho had not “ delivered the goods.” He stood convicted as a man who gained support oil false pretences. INCREASING EXPENDITURE. What' was the record -for.the present year? Threo quarters had expired and

the financial year closed in four weeks.. The results to date showed that the expenditure had increased as follows■ j June quarter, £127,070; September ji quarter, £205.776; December quarter, £245,375, being an increase for the first year of office of £638,111 for throe quarters. Thus had the. promised economy of administration fallen to pieces, The railway expenditure in particular had enormously increased. The published returns to - December 6 showed that the expenditure had increased j in. eight mouths by £166,000 over the previous year, and that, the expenditure per cent of . revenue had gone up from 70.36 to 76.31, an increase of nearly £6 10s per cent of tho. revenue. THE SURPLUS. Thero was another aspect of finance.At the beginning of this financial year there was a surplus of £709,000, from which the Government proposed to pay £675,000 to the public works fund. Had they done it? Down to December 31 (after nine months of the financial year) they had.paid over only £50,000, leaving £625,000 to be paid during the current quarter. Neither could they have paid it over down to December 31, for at that date, deducting tho treasury bills, there was only £572,650 6s 7d of a balance in hand, and of this sum only £133,000 was cash in the public account,. and all the rest .was imprests in the-hands of officers of - the Government.

They would thus see that during the present quarter the Government had to pay all tho ordinary expenditure interest on loans, etc., and iii addition £625,000 to the public works fund. As for .the surplus for -.this- year tkey would have to wait and see, but he feared it would be, for diice "and' at last, if it existed at all, a faked paperone, and then of very attenuated'.proportions. But this was the price the. country was paying for the -lesson it was getting qf Conservative methods of administration. This'was the result of having an amateur in finance on the box seat of the St ate. coach. THE PROMISE-TO CURTAIL BORROWING! i

The public debt increased during the last financial year under the Mackenzie and Massey- Governments by £5,706,000 and it was spent thus: —State Guaranteed Advances. Department £2;572,000, public works £2,648,000, miscellaneous £486,000; total £5.706,000. It had been stated that the Government was not, responsible for this increase. Who, then, was? Tho expenditure on actual public works for the year ' was £2,378,000 —£178,000 more than the previous year, which Was election year under the Ward. Government! Under tho Land for Settlements Act £444,000 was spent in 1912-13. against £397,000 spent by the' Ward Government the previous year, also in election year, and they paid over to the State Guaranteed Advances office in their, first year £1,461,000. These three items alone accounted for £4,283,000 of the debt. . But in addition they had £324,000 of actual cash at the close of the year in the public works' fund. In addition to this there, wete the expanses of conversion 'operations; cost' or raising loans, and the other purposes for which loans are authorised, the items being as follows:—State coal mines £25,000, scenery preservation £15,000, naval defence £433 £OO, railway improvement' £28,000, water power £50,000, irrigation £15,000, conversion £24,000, total £440,000. LOAN FLOTATION.

. Mr Russell went on to. say that in his last address to his constituents he showed how. disastrous the loan raised by Mr Allen in London , had been, compared with that of the'Mackenzie Government. Mr Myers’s , loan was for £4,500,000, and was floated at 98 for 3f per cent. Mr Allen’s loan was for 4 per cent, and was floated at 99. On a thirty years’ period Mr Myers’s loan >yas £530,000 better than Mr Allen’s True, Mr Myers’s loan was only for two years,' on account 'of 7the disturbed state of the market at the time, but when it.came to be renewed Mr. Allen would be able to renew it on far better terms than those on which he raised his own loan less than a year- after. His second loan was a-great deal better for the country than his first one. They would all bo glad to know the money market was easier at, Home and on .the Continent, and that the period of-restriction was passing. The large amount offered for the recent; loan indicated that money was plentiful, and the speaker was of opinion that it would have been possible, to have gone back to a 3£ per cent rate. .He feared, however, that Mr Allen was not likely to float a 3£ per . cent loan to renew the Myers loan, which fell due this year. It would lie too startling a comment upon his denunciation of short-, dated loans. To pilt the matter in a nutshell, Mr. Myers borrowed for a short period in 1912 because he thought 99 at 3£ was a high rate, and that it would come down soon. Mr Allon borrowed a year after at 98 for 4 percent for thirty years, because .in his political babyhood he thought that would bo the rate for a generation. His last loan was for teu years only, and it was evident he had begun to cut his wisdom teeth. But -New Zealand had to pay dearly for the experience he had gained.-, A groat deal of, booming of Mr Allen took place because his last loan was about twice subscribed. Well it might be at -the price, but those who did the booming forgot to mention that on exactly the same day as the New Zealand loan Was floated in London a Prussian loan of £15,500.000 was subscribed seventy-five times over, indicating the wonderful outflow of capital at that time.

Here he wished to protest against two new departures in borrowing in London instituted bv the Government/ Hitherto Now Zealand had' gone to London only for what he might term ordinary borrowing, but it was now intended to borrow there for Treasury bills and also up to half a million a year for local bodies, the Government guaranteeing the latter. New Zealand would thus appear as a borrower ; n threo aspects. This was a matter for regret. It meant, to quote Mr Balance’s great phrase, placing the country in a state of “servile dependence” upon the London money market. " The speaker deeply regretted seeing New Zealnnd thus year after year mortgaging its future. Already their interest and sinking fund account recked over £2,800,000 per year, or nearly £BOOO for every day of the year, including Sundays, and a’great portion of this money went out of New Zenlgnd: Some day they might hope for a Lldy.d George in this country who would show how they might make such a revenue out of. the growth of land values caused by the expenditure of borrowed money as would really enable them to curtail borrowing. It would mean self-dnrtinl and sacrifice. Within three years New Zealand’s national debt • would reach £100,000,000, and, though a very large portion of it was- revenue-producing, and paid its way, they could >not fail to: see the awful drain it was on the country to send vast sums for interest quarter by quarter and year by year out of New Zealand. They might not have the • absentee landlord to a great extent, but they had the absentee bondholders, and he knew of no more pressing problem than that of self-reliance and the weaning of the country. from ; “a servile dependence upon the London money market.”

A FULL TREASURY. Lot him now compare the position, not when Sir Joseph Ward "went out of office, hut when the Mackenzie Government handed over tho reins to Mr Allen. It was a favourite expedient of weak men like Mr Allen to paint their predecessors’ deeds in dark and dismal colours, but to make their own deeds bright and roseate.' What was the position at June 30, 1912, twelve day 3 before Mr Allen took charge ?" It was shown in the “ New Zealand Gazette,”

of July 25,- 1912, and from this there oould be no appeal: There were no Treasury Bills in existence. There was then in tho consolidated revenue account a credit balance of £782,000, and in the public works account a balance of £300,000, after allowing for £1,013;000 for . redemption * purposes. The summary of balances'showed that there was £2,198,000. in cash in the public account,' and £1,248,000 as advances in the hands of public officers. Deducting from these sums the £1,013,000 for-redemption purposes tlie trea,surer had £2,433,000 in hand in cash and advances twelve days before the Massey'Government took office. Tnis included, only-£172,000 of the Myers loan (which, was raised on June 7), all. the rest of it which Was available tor expenditure within the dominion .(£1,259,000) came to hand after Mr Allen assumed office, £283,000 being used for the Dreadnought loan in London. These facts proved conclusively that Mr Allen was on a good wicket financially when he took office, and that his croakings of a legacy of financial difficulty were absolutely without foundation in fact'. What was the position now? Mr Allen had£so3,ooo of Treasury bills- — floating debt, ag.it was called—on December 31 and could not have paid over the £625,000 of last year’s surplus to the public works fund even if he had paid every shilling out the public account, and called in every copper in the hands of the public officers in the dominion and in London. THE LAND PROBLEM.

Dealing with tlfo problems of l’and settlement, Mr Russell said that these presented themselves to -him .as . follows:—1. How to satisfy the earth hunger which was ranipant in town aiid country; 2, how to steadily convert urban and city dwellers into producers; 3, how to fill up vacant places in the dominion, thus increasing exports, and 4, how to give the.youth of the dominion the opportunity to go on- the land and become tillers of the soil. .. The total area of occupied land m New Zealand was 40,000.000 acres. Of this area : 16,000.000 acres' were freehold'and 24,000,000 acres were held .oh lease from tlie Crown, public bodies, or Maoris and other private individuals. The State alone let on lease 17,540,000 acres; 4,000.000 acres were leased from public bodies and individual European owners, and 2.171,000 from the Maoris. The aggregation of small holdings ( was proceeding rapidly, the number, of. holdings of from $0 acres to 1 acre decreasing during the two years 1910-11 by 4061. INCREASE IN LAND VALUES. In 1892 there were 39.000 freeholders, in 1910 there were 47,000. During that , eighteen years improved laud values rose from £122,000;000 to £277,000,000. By 1913 tho value had risen to £340,000,000, showing a lat-ter-day rate of appreciation of £21,000,000 per year. Unimproved land values in 1891 totalled £75,000,000; in 1910 £175,000.000, and in 1913 £212,000,000. Between 1891 and 1910. improved values anprcciated to the extent of £155,000,000, while unimproved values increased by £100,000,000. Yet the number of' freeholders increased in the same period by only 8000— one freeholder to every £19,375 increase in value. In 1911 the number of rural residents over the age of twenty was 163,000, and the total number of holdings of over 1 acre in the country was in 1910-11 73,876, of which number 18,075 held 10 acres or under. No one could say that this was satisfactory. They must have more settlement. They had hardly yet begun the work of settling this great' country. They had the example of Denmark before them to show that the.present pumber of settlers could be doubled and trebled. SETTLEMENT IN TARANAKI. To come nearer home, let them take the case of Taranaki. That province had an area of 1,358,000 acres, and there were more holdings in it than in Nelson and Marlborough with five times the acreage, and nearly half as many as in Canterbury with its area of six and a half million acres. Taranaki was a land of small farmers, and what made all the difference was the dairy cow. In 1911 there were 134,000 dairy cows in Taranaki, as against 51,000 in Canterbury, where a city of 80,000 people had to be supplied with milk. Of course, all land was not suitable for dairy fanning, but if the people were to be settled on the land, wherever the land was, or could be made, available for dairy farming, the sheep must give place to the dairy, the orchard and the poultry farm, and the apiarist must not be ignored. TENURE QUESTION SETTLED.

How could this be done? Let him first say that in his opinion the question of tenure was settled. Tho State leasehold had been twice established, and twice it had gone down. Mr Rolleston’s perpetual leasehold was. killed by his own party, and the lease in perpetuity and renewable lease of the Liberals had been destroyed by the Massey Governmeyit... It was useless to think of resuscitating the leasehold tenure. Directly 20,000 men got on the land as lessees they cried out for the freehold, and the tenure became a shuttlecock in the political game. Limited freehold, with severe law 6 against aggregation,, would be the tenure of the future.

HOW TO PROMOTE CLOSE SETTLEMENT.

This, however,-, would not settle the land. Nearly the wholo of the Crown lands had been sold, and they must look towards the private owner. The primary consideration must be profitable use, and. the methods ,that might be used, would be the graduated tax, which-might be largely increased, the purchase of land under the Land for Settlements Act and tho compulsory sale by owners under proper restrictions. ‘ The graduated tax was more an instrument of revenuo tJian an aid to settlement, but it would have its effect on settlement to a moderate degree. The Land for Settlements Act as now administered was a spent force. Tho average value ofi holdings purchased was about £I3OO, which meant that an expenditure of half a million per annum would settle less than 400 persons per year. Ho would recommend the application of the Act in tho direction of cutting land into hidings of an

averag > value of about £SOO. That would i fettle the country at the rate of 1000 now settlers annually. The State should .'end the money for the erection of homi-steads, and let the occupiers spend their capital on stock and implements. COMPULSORY SALES. In tho matter of compulsory sale he would recommend that a Land Board should bo elected on the popular franchise with power to give notice to the occupier of land not producing what it should produce, and accessible by road and railway,' that if within three years tho land should remain unproductive tho State would resume possession, sell tho land on behalf of the owner; and pay him with debentures due in ten years and bearing 5 per cent interest, the price being a fixed one of say 10 per cent to 25 per cent advance on the Government valuation. 1 To assist'the settlers in new districts the Government should establish or subsidise dairy factories, fruit-canning establishments and poultry depots. Government instructors should assist inexperienced men now to tho land, and co-operative societies should he established amongst the settlers under tho guidance and with the assistance of the Agricultural Department. DEFENCE, The appropriation under the consolidated fund this year , for defence was £513,000. The contingent defence item in the public works account was £50,000. In addition there was £IOO,OOO ; for naval defence, and £140,000 for tlie Dreadnought a grand total of ,£803,000. The Government had also taken over the Philomel as a. training ship, in addition to the Amokura.(which cost £7300 per year). The cost of the Philomel would be deducted from the £IOO,OOO, and the balance would be handed to the British Navy as a contribution. Tho Government .had announced that “The New Zealand Government think a commencement should be made to improve the, naval position in the South Pacific, and, if no satisfactoiy arrangement is arrived.at before next session Parliament will be asked to agree to the building in Britain of one fast modern cruiser, probably of tho Bristol type, costing about £400,000, to be used in tliq event of necessity requiring it for the protection of our trade routes.” The Government thus proposed _to commit the country to tlie establishment of a local navy, and it was for •New ’Zealanders. to say whether, they agreed With this. On a 4 per cent basis. i the..interest on £400,000 would, be £16,000 per year, and it was doubtful if the ship would not be practically obsolete in ten years, which would mean a depreciation of £40,000 per year. Theestihiate supplied to Canada by the Admiralty for “Town” cruisers in January of last year was, for maintenance £72,000 per year. This would mean a total annual cost as follows: — Interest £16,000, maintenance £72,000, depreciation, at 10 per cent, £40,000; total cost £128,000 per year for one cruiser. .

A ONE-SHIP NAVY

; The idea that one ship could be of any practical service in “ protecting our trade routes ” was ridiculous. During 1912 ships and steamers with a tonnago of 1,672,000 tons arrived in New Zealand, and it was .preposterous for them to think of protecting the routes of their country’s trade with one ship of 4800 tons, and carrying two ( 6in guns and ten 4in guns. . Their proper course was to say to the Admiralty that the time had not yet come for this young country to undertake the responsibilities of naval defence. They looked—and they had a right to loolt—to-the British Navy as their first' line of Tlie money they were spending this year on defence worked out at about 17s 6d per head of the European population of one million. Surely that was a heavy enough impost for a young country like New Zealand -to bear. At the same time he admitted they had responsibilities for naval defence which they were able to bear. NEW ZEALAND’S RESPONSIBILITIES.

Those responsibilities should be, in his opinion, as follows: —To re-establish naval brigades at all ports. (These corps were of great value, and had been destroyed, tho words “ naval brigades” did not occur in the Defence Act). And to assist the navy by obtaining four torpedo-boat destroyers (one for each of the main ports) at a cost of £562,000, and also four submarines, at a cost of £488,000. The annual cost of maintenance would be £BO,OOO for the destroyers, and £48,000 for the submarines. This £128,000 he would take off the present cost of the land defences. Their land defences were the second line, and part of their present expenditure should go towards helping tlie navy, which was the first and chief hope in the hour of dfinger. He thought New Zealand had _ a right to ask the Admiralty to provide somewhere in Cook’s Strait an impregnable naval base, so as_ to command both coasts of both islands. It might be said that the proposals he had made would actually be more expensive than the Government’s, but they would have the immense advantage of having a practical and immediate value in protecting the coasts at four points, whilst the purchase of a single ship would be of little value. His proposal implied that New Zealand relied on the navy and was prepared to help it. The expense would be strictly limited, whereas the' proposal of the Government was certain to grow into big figures. The Government’s proposal was to tell the navy New Zealand could go alone and then depend on one vesso 1 . If the Bristol cruiser was confronted with a single German or Japanese Dreadnought New Zealand’s defence would disappear, whereas four destroyers and four submarines would be a menace-to. even three or four Dreadnoughts until the British Navy could appear on the scene.

OVERHAULING THE DEFENCE SCHEME.

Whilst on this subject, let him say that he was of opinion that the land defence scheme must be overhauled. He was not satisfied that there'was a need for the youth of the country to servo eleven years (from fourteen to twenty-five) as soldiers. He had more than once tried to get the age reduced to twenty-one, which, in his opinion, is long enough for training. Ho was also satisfied that; though compulsory, the obligation was not universal " There were more men than were necessary, and the Government admitted that it could not provide the funds to train every youth who was liable. It was unfair that some young men were compelled, under the hardest pains and penalties, to serve under the flag, whilst others were not asked to make any such sacrifice. The essence of the scheme was its universality, and it was not universal now. VOLUNTARY SERVICE.

He held that after twenty-one years of age service should bo voluntary, and that all who chose so to do should be allowed to volunteer up to the age of forty, when they should retire to the reserve. The effect of providing a “ stiffening ” of experienced and mature men up to forty years would be tremendous if the Territorials were called out for active service. He behoved that the modifications he had suggested would bo acceptable' to the country, and'would tend to remove a great deal of the discontent which now undoubtedly existed regarding the defence scheme. He did not identify the Liberal Party with what he had said on this subject, which was the expression of his personal opinions.

THE NATIONAL PROHIBITION VOTE.

Towards the close of the session the Prime Minister circulated a most important Bill. In it he proposed to re-

duce the majority necessary to carry national prohibition from 60 to 55 per cent. Ho wished to .point out that in 1912 Now Zealand drew a revenue of £886,592 from Customs and excise duties, not including the license fees, which were local revenue and amounted to nearly £50,000. At last poll 55.83 per cent of the valid votes cast on the question were for national prohibition, and the Prime Minister must see that in reducing the majority to nearly 1 per cent less than was actually cast at last poll, and allowing for . the steady growth of the prohibition vote, he was practically bringing about national prohibition. Was Mr Massey prepared for this? What did the Finance Minister think of it? Was he prepared to find £886,000 to replace the Customs and excise duties on alcoholic liquor? He was not discussing the merits of the proposal, but it was the duty of the Prime Minister to explain the financial details involved in the scheme.

NEW ZEALAND’S INDUSTRIES. The breadwinners of tho country Cm ale and female) numbered 454,000. The mining and industrial workers numbered 148,000, as against 110,000 engaged in agricultural and pastoral pursuits. He did not wish to unduly strain the point, but he mentioned it to show the huge importance to which their industries had already attained It should be their business to increase them. . The speaker was a State Socialist, and made no secret of the fact. EXTENSION OF STATE OWNERSHIP.

In this country there .were many State enterprises, all to the benefit of the country. He saw no reason why they should not extend the activities of the State in other directions by establishing more State coal-mines, owning their own colliers and ferry steamers, establishing State ironworks to develop the magnificent deposits at Parapara. and the Taranaki ironsand, tackling the mineral oil deposits of the country, harvesting the fish which a bountiful Providence had 1 placed in the seas for the use of the population, preparing waste land for settlement, and discpvering and working the gold, silver and other rich mineral deposits of the country. •• • -r , He would be told, this was opposed to the good old hoary and Tory doctrine of private enterprise, but he cared not for that sneer. They must find work for their people. How better could these ends be accomplished than by using the powers and functions of the State—its credit, its capital, its . machinery and the brains and experience of its public servants—in developing their resources? Every suggestion he had made d'ealt with primary products, and with them alone. . THREE SCANDALS.

“ Reform poses as a party of purity,” continued Mr Russell, “ and I now approach a painful part of my speech, because I have to impeach the veracity of two Ministers. The session was marked by three of the worst scandals that ever came before Parliament. Take first the Royd Garlick appointment. This gentleman, who was a masseur in Wellington, was appointed Director of Physical Culture, without any other application being considered, at £6OO per year and expenses. The highest salary paid to a E rimary school teacher—men holding igh degrees and of great experience—is, I think, £4OO per year. Mr Garlick was carrying on his business in Wellington, and since his appointment as a Government officer his wife has carried it on and is doing so still, in defiance of the practice that obtains that no wife of a Civil servant may carry on business. Mr'Garlick is drawing a larger salary than any Crown Lands Commissioner or the heads of several large departments. He receives only £25 less than the Colonial Architect, more than the secretary of the Labour Department, only £26 less than the Valuer-General, who has to control a valuation of £340,000,000 worth of property, and only £SO less than the Secretary of Customs, who has to look after the collection of over three and a half millions of revenue. The Otago Education Board, in particular, had good men qualified to take up tho work. “ And now I come to the position of the Minister, the Hon J. Allen. The appointment was made as the result of a committee’s investigation and report, Mr Garlick himself being one of the committee. The committee sat on September 16, 1912. In his evidence Mr Allen 6aid:—

*On ‘ receiving their report, action had to be taken, and one of the first things to do was' to get hold of a physical culture expert. At that time T had not Mr Royd Garlick. in my mind—until the report came in.’ Mr Wilford said to him: ‘ You tell this committee (of the House) that Mr Royd Garlick was allowed to sit on the committee that had your memo, for consideration, but there was no idea at the time that he would be appointed?’ Mr Allen replied: ‘I tell you that absolutely. I had no idea of any appointment at the time.’

“ Now for the sequel. Ou August 29, 1912, eighteen days before the committee sat to consider Mr. Allen’s memorandum, Mr Royd Garlick being present, Dr Hardwick Smith, of the Wellington Hospital, who was also one of the committee, wrote as follows to Mr Allen:—

“ ‘ Dear Mr Allen, —I spoke to Mr Royd Garlick on the subject you mentioned to me. I believe he would take such a position, at any rate for one year.’ “ Time after time I have felt it my duty in the House to expose the reckless misstatements of this Minister, but I think this incident stamps him as a record in New Zealand politics. THE LEGAL BUREAU SCANDAL. “I turn now to the Minister of Justice, Mr Herdman. This gentleman administers the Public Trust Office. The Public Trustee had established a legal bureau in the office to save the public law costs. This was greatly resented by the legal profession in Wellington. A Royal Commission set up to inquire into the office reported against the legal bureau, and in his annual report the Trustee defended the bureau, saying it was saving the public £3OOO a year. The whole report, which included this defence, was not only suppressed by the Minister, but he actually denied its very existence. Let me prove it by reference to 1 Hansard,’ August 20, 1913:—^ “‘Mr Russell wished to say that he held in his hands the journals of last year, and there he found a report relating to tho Public Trust Office—B 9a. Was there such a report as that this year?’ ‘Mr Herdman: No report of a similar kind will be laid on the table this year. ‘Mr Russell: Is there a similar report in the possession of the Government? ■ Mr Herdman: No.

“That statement was clear enough. You will be astounded to know' that a few days after the ‘New Zealand Times ’ published a precis of the suppressed report, and a little later the entire report in full, word for word, occupying about a page of the paper. Not only so, but the Public Trust Office and Government Printing Office were both turned out iu a vain effort to find out the culprit who had thus wickedly proved that the Minister of Justice w’as a gentleman whose statements had to be accepted With grave doubt. THE WESTPORT HARBOUR BOARD SCANDAL. “ The third scandal refers to the Hon Mr Fislier, and deals with an appointment to tho Westport Harbour Board. The salient facts were narrated by Mr Atmore, and.showed that Mr Fisher had appointed as the Government nominee on the Westport Harbour Board a man who had several serious

convictions against his name in. the Police Court of the district where he lived. The facts were not denied, and when the allegations were made Mr Fisher said that if the statements were proved he thought the man should resign. He said, “If the statement made by the honourable gentleman were true I would ask him to resign from the Board, and I think he would be a wise man and get out.” The statements were proved up to the hilt, but that man is still on the Board as-your representative and mine on the Harbour Board. He was not asked to resign. He represents the whole of the people of New Zealand upon it. It is a painful business, and shows a lowering of the tone of public life in this dominion which has never happened before. OTHER “PURITY” CASES. 1 “ But these are not the only cases of so-called. Reform purity—(save the mark!). We have seen capable and Honest men kicked off the Lands Boards because they were Liberals and replaced by Tories. We have seen a Magistrate appointed from Auckland, one of whoso qualifications was that he was a prolific writer in days past in support of the National Association. We have seen gentlemen appointed to tho Legislative Council who had been rejected by their constituencies. The policy of ‘ spoils to the victors ’• is now in full blast as it has never been before.” THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSIONERS. ;

Continuing, Mr Russell, said that the new system of control of the public service was now in full swing. The more he saw of it, the less he liked it. To him it was outrageous that Parliament and the Ministers should have been reduced to ciphers. The Commissioners were put up for the purpose of reducing the cost of the service. Hpd they done it? Not in the slightest. The total of salaries paid in eighteen departments either wholly or partially administered by the Commissioners during the year ending March 31, 1913, was £1,545,018. For the present year the expenditure on salaries in the same departments was £1,642,534 —an increase of £97,516 for tho year. He made a specific charge against the Commissioners in connection with the increase of salaries in the Government Printing' Office.

THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. The Government assumed office on a pledge to reform the Upper House, and make it elective. Had they done so? Not a bit of it. In two successive sessions they had introduced into the Council proposals for the political extinction of the present members of that body. And then, with grotesque humour, they had put their tongues in their cheeks, and wondered why the Council did not pass the Bill. The speaker believed .that reform of the upper chamber was necessary. He was opposed to any branch of the Legislature being nominated. The best course would be to reform the Council out of existence and to establish a purely advisory and 'revisory body, to be elected by the Lower House, its functions being confined to revising Bills passed by the House of .Representatives, and to suggesting amendments in them. This would tend to the simplicity of Parliament, the work of revision would be more effective, the cost of Parliament would be greatly reduced, and there would be no chance of a deadlock between the Houses, as might easily happen if both chambers were made elective on the same franchise. It would also give the people’s chamber that position of unassailable predominance to which it was entitled. LABOUR TROUBLES. The Liberal Party established the Arbitration Act—and was totally opposed to strikes on one side and to lock-outs on the other. They - believed that no industrial dispute should be or was incapable of settlement by a properly constituted tribunal. He did not say the Arbitration Court was a perfect machine for settling labour troubles. The Court had made mistakes; it'had sometimes exercised legislative powers. On other occasions it had f refused to make awards when it should have made them; but on the whole the experience of twenty years had justified its existence. TORIES AND STRIKES.

Need he point out to them that the last great industrial upheaval before the recent one was in 1890, under the then Conservative Government, and it was the fact that a Tory Government was in power that largely led to the late strike in this country. The Employers’ Association knew that they bad friends at court, and forced this disastrous conflict into a condition of acuteness, resulting in disaster to thousands of .non-combatants, which would not have obtained |if the Liberal Party had, held the scales of justice. When the strike did occur the Liberal Party refrained from interfering, with the Government in its determination®!*) carry on the trade of the country. What they did was to offer their assistance if the Government would set up a joint committee of. both parties to consider what legislation—if any—was desirable to secure a settlement of the trouble. Privately Sir Joseph Ward and other leading Liberals did everything possible to secure a settlement. But the Government was determined to let the strike settle itself, with the result that it lasted as many weeks as it should have lasted days. In his opinion—and he spoke from close personal observation at Wellington —there was no need for the huge array of armed forces gathered at the principal ports. That was largely a political demonstration, quite unnecessary, and intended to affect the election this year. Whilst he had no sympathy with the aims and methods of any Socialistic body, such as the Federation of Labour, whose declared aim was to overturn society as it at present existed and to nationalise the means of production, distribution and exchange, he had every sympathy with the aspirations of the workers. The worker was justly looking for a larger share of iblie products of his labour. It was the duty of the. Liberal Party .to aim at directing the political and economic forces of tho country so that this good result might be attained with justice to both worker and employer. It was a large problem, but should not be incapable of solution.

CO-PARTNERSHIP AND PROFIT-

SHARING.

He was of opinion that co-partner-ship and profit-sharing were one of the roads to success, and that all monopolistic companies, all public bodies—such as City Councils, Harbour Boards, Tramway Boards, otc.—should be com'pelled to establish superannuation funds for the whole of their staffs, managerial, clerical and industrial, and this might be applied (with a subvention from the State) to private workers. Time after time he had advocated the invalidity pension. This was one of the policy proposals of the Mackenzie Government, and it would certainly be given effect to directly a. Liberal Government took office. It might not bo a large pension at first, but the principle would be recognised, and as funds were provided it would be increased. To sum up his views on Labour, he was in favour of the maintenance and extension to all workers of the principles of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, and total opposition to strikes; making the Court more representative ; . the establishment of a superannuation fund for private workers as w r ell as for public bodies; the establishment of a national fund to assist married men with families during sickness and unemployment; and the establishment of an invalidity pension to appiv to both males and fetaales. FATHERHOOD AND MATERNITY. Another direction in which the Lib-

eral policy could with advantage bfc pushed a step in advance was in assist-. ing parents who were performing that highest duty of a citizen—rearing a healthy offspring. They wanted, as » * nation, not only full cradles, but a Is?, a guarantee that after the children had left the cradles they should have all the food, comfort and medical advice and assistance necessary to secure strong and vigorous health. The Australians gave a maternity bonus of £5 at the birth of every child. He was disposed to think that a better method! of spending the. money could be found than a cash bonus, because they h:«S no guarantee (in many cases) that the newborn child would receive the benefit of the money. He could conceive, of no better direction in which this country could spend £150,000 per year than in establishing a system of State nurses and doctors . whose duty ■ should • be to advise and assist every mother who asked for help in maternity, and whose watchful care should be available to advise and assist until the child had got past the special dangers of infancy. More than that woqld be required. The State must provide the necessary money to V see that the child was supplied with adequate nursing, food and comfort. • WHAT-IS THE MASSEY POLICY? “ Tho Conservative newspapers are crying out,” said Mr Russell, “ for the Liberal policy. But I ask, What is the Massey policy ? What does Mir Massey stand for? He has granted the .freehold to Crown tenants, and that card ; has gone from his window'. He cannot'stand' on a policy to reduce taxation or expenditure, or to clean out the pigeon-holes, or to curtail borrowing. Those c.vtchcries have expended their force. He has dodged the local government question, ana is granting bribes as roads and bridges (as he' called them) just as his predecessors did, and theirs before them. He has humbugged. the question of : Legislative Council reform, and there is no sincerity in that cry. He has messed up the finances of the country and in two years killed our magnificent surpluses. He has taken away the only check that existed on minority representation and put nothing, in its place. He has created three autocrats over the public service, and taken from tho people’s representatives the right, of control, and even reduced himself and his colleagues to .the level of. clerks instead of being Ministers of the Crown. He has altered the Native land laws so. that speculators can again rob the Maoris, and has wiped the Maori members off the Native Land Boards. He has nothing left. He must formulate a new policy. What is it? To cut the connection with the Imperial Navy and establish a training ship and a toy navy of one Bristol cruiser to be * all our own !’ I regret that the naval question should become a party one, but it is the Government who have, made it so by abandoning the historical naval subsidy of the Seddon and Ward Go-, vernments.

“ I do not know what else the Massey Government stands for, except it be to cling to office. They have had their chance and proved a -Miserable. failure. They have shot their bolt. They realise they are in extremis, and are scouring the country like lost spirife seeking for votes by any and every means of promise and cajolery. I believe that when the polls are taken the people will turn again to the old party that did so much for the country during the twenty-one years it held office. I trust the people, and 1 believe that tt'hen the time comes you will do your part in again sweeping the Tories from the Treasury benches and ordering' that again the flag of Liberalism. shall wave over our beloved country.” “CLOSE UP YOUR RANKS!” “In conclusion I would say the moral of the position now existing is that Liberals and Labourites must close their ranks and unite as was done so successfully in the days of Mr Seddon. Our aim is the same, the good of all. I do not expect that all will respond to this invitation, for there . are extremists (happily only a few) in the ranks of Labour who advocate revolutionary doctrines. They might well bear in mind the sage advice of Mr Holmaa that there is no short cut to progress. It is a slow but sure pathway. It comes by evolution, and means a gradual building up. But I do appeal to the reasonable men and women in the ranks of Labour to beware. Mr Massey has whipped Labour with cords already. He will whip it with scorpions if by divisions and jealousies, amongst the progressive forces of Liberalism ana Labour he is able to secure a return to power at the elections this year. And on those who, now the second ballot has been repealed, cause the loss, of seats to him, will rest the responsibility. QUESTIONS. In answer to questions, Mr Russell •said that the Liberal Party had giveD up trying to oppose the freehold. As soon as they put men .on the land on leasehold they clamoured for the freehold. There were no amendments of the Arbitration Act save one providing for secret ballots in the case of strikes. The Liberal Party did not desire to take away the right to strike, but it desired to try every possible measure of settlement before a strike happened. COMPLIMENTS FROM FELLOWMEMBERS. Mr T. K. Sidey, M.P., said that all the .members of the committee that undertook the leadership of the Liberal Party during the period whep there was no individual leader would agree that the brunt of the fighting was borne by the member for Avon. He hoped that Mr Russell’s constituents would recognise the exceptional services of their member to his party at the bal-lot-box. ... . , ,Mr G. Witty, M.P., said that the Liberal Party voted against the unjust penal clauses of the Arbitration Act Amendment.. . Mr L. M. Isitt. M.P., said that he felt they had reached a crisis in the political history of the country when they would be absolutely mad if they did not present a united front against the party of reaction. He was quite satisfied that the party at present in power was there in the interests of the big man and against the masses of the Tfk G. Eli, M.P., congratulated Mr Russell on the delivery of a speech which had outlined a policy which should do a groat deal to -bring the Liberal and Labour forces together. He prophesied that the present Government would sell Cheviot as soon as it got an opportunity. THANKS AND CONFIDENCE. .

Mr J. Walker moved a vote of thanks to and continued confidence in Mr Russell as member for Avon. In response to a request from members of the audience that he should speak, Mr J. M’Combs said that if. he were to say anything it would be in the direction of a wholesale criticism of Mr Russell’s remarks, and he did not propose to enter upon such a criticism.

The motion was seconded by Mr A. M. Loasby. Mr E. Howard moved as an amend; ment that there should be a vote o', thanks only. Ho said that Mr RusseK had given a magnificent speech, and one which met with tho views of the Social Democratic Party in very many respects. The Liberal Party, however, had made a terrible blunder over the Defenco Act. Had it not been for that it might have been in office yet. Ho was pleased to hear that Mr Russell was a State Socialist. They hoped to have his company yet on the stump in Cathedral Square.The amendment was seconded, put, and defeated, and the motion was carried. _ ‘ ■ Mr Russell briefly returned thanks for tho compliment paid him, and Iho meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to tho chairman.