POLITICAL ADDRESS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 249, 20 October 1908, Page 2

POLITICAL ADDRESS.

MR McARTNEY'S OPENING

SPEECH

Mr R. MeArtney, the Government candidate for the Wairau electorate, delivered a political address in the Orovetown School-room last evening. There was a good attendance, and Mr P. Rush was elected to the chair.

The Chairman briefly introduced the speaker, making the usual appeal for a fair hearing.

INTRODUCTION

Mr McArtney said that to-night they received "the chestnut" at the starting post. He was well armed and ready,. and if the other starters did not hurry up he would be past the post before they knew where they were. He had come here close on half a century ago, and he thought they would believe that he was an old dog for a hard road. The reason why he was a candidate was that he had always been a Liberal. He had always been a supporter of the Liberal Member for the district, and he had been asked by a large number of people to take up the running. Mr Mills had asked him to follow him, and he had his support, which he (the candidate) felt assured he would receive. He would not weary them with figures, but if they wished to find out the financial position of the country they could get' all the information they required. The press always published the Government returns, and he felt sure they did not want him to repeat them.

LAND TENURE,

When going round the electorate previously he made a promise that he would speak upon two questions most plainly: Land tenure and labor. He would take land tenur© first. He said right straight out that he believed in the leasehold tenure and not the -freehold. He believed that freehold tenure placed the land beyond the reach of the, poor man, and rf he had to depend on getting on tho land for the freehold lie wou'd never get Tilefd. It Was not necessary to take them far from home to prove what he had said of: the. success of the leasehold : let them look at Star borough, Flaxbourne, etc. All the settlers who had been placed on those estates on leasehold tenure had prospered. The land laws brought into existence By this.Government were more liberal than those of any other country he Irnew oL The lease-in-perpetuity was a thing wtih which he had at first full sympathy—he was, in fact, at one time a disciple, of the late Sir John McKenzie. As time went on, however, he began_ to believe that the lease-in-perpetuity was a mistake; it dealt with posterity, and he thought posterity should deal with the land]as it thought fit. The lease-in-porpetuity ■ was really better for the occupier than freehold. He had really no conditions, except to liye upon the land and to pay rent. Tenants under the Crown were one thousand times better off than those under private landlords. They had a longer lease—33 years was the shortest—and if they desired to throw up the property at the end of the time they were always paid in full for their improvements. He did. not believe in the freehold being granted, but was inclined to fa,vor the 66 years' lease. It did not seem to him to be good policy for the Government to set all. the machinery of getting people on the land in motion and then part with the land. The lease should be dealt with at the end of the term with the right of renewal at the rental of 4 per cent, on the unimproved -capital value. What they wanted in this Dominion was more land for settlement.

ADVANCES TO SETTLERS,

Dealing with the Advances to Settlers Act, the speaker said that it ■was the most advantageous Act that liad ever been brought into existence for the workers. When it was first proposed it was opposed by almost every member of the Opposition, and vras finally, through the efforts of the present Prime Minister, carried by a majority of 25. The candidate then -dealt with some of the objections which had been raised by membersl.of the Opposition. He quoted Sir W. Russell, Mr Massey, Mr Duthie, Mr James Allen and Dr. Newman —the latter saying that it would smash "all the poorlawyers in the country." The London Times, speaking of the measure, had said that it was one of great importance not only to the Dominion at present, but to the next .generation. They approved of it, cut warned the Dominion to be carelul in the formation of the Act.

ADVANCES TO WORKERS

The Advances to Workers Act also met with the approval of the candidate. He said that thousands of workers had been directly benefited by it, as well as thousands of others indirectly. The applications for help under this Act were so great that the Department could not cope with them. Had this Act not been of very great benefit to the country?. One of the members of the Opposition had said of the Bill that it was a farmers' loan Bill. This Member had opposed it ■straight out, and yet he (the speaker) thought that there were many farmers who were not grateful enough to remember what the Government had ■done for them. Not only had the Act freen of great service in advancing money to the settlers, but it had greatly cheapened the cost of raising Joans and mortgages, etc.

THE LABOR QUESTION

Another matter which claimed the ■candidate's attention was that of -Labor. He believed in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. They knew that the Conciliation Board had been wiped out, but he was not sure that it •was a good thing, either for the worker or the employer. The trouble was that the Board had not had enough power. They could only make a recommendation, not an award. He thought the Board should have had power to make an award, and have it tried for a time; then if it did not work, well ah appeal could be made &r- the Arbitration Court. However, the only dispute which came before the Conciliation Board in Marlborough was that of the threshers and the farmers. The workers wanted Is ar. hour, and the farmers offered them 9d. The matter was fully threshed out, and eventually the workers brought their claim down to IOId. lhe workers struck at lOd, and the candidate (who was chairman) used his casting vote in favor of the men liavmg IOJd. His place was to do what was fair between man and man. lerhaps, however, neither side had £, ai, n j very much b -V tn<> award, but rv had at any rate fixed a recognised rate of payment. Agitators had been blamed tor a great deal of the trouble between capital and labor, and perliaps they had had a gcod deal to do with it. But they had not had much trouble with thsm in Marlborough, and he hoped the workers of MarlJjorough would never have any thing to <fo. with agitators. He would suggest to workers m regard to their unions «iat 83-eat Care should be used as to

i who joined. He meant this: if when I a man wanted to join, the executive lof the union made inquiries and j found that he was not a good : work- | man, they should not allow him to (join. That would mean that memI bership of a union would be a sort of hall-mark of good workmanship. The employers would thus get very great faith in the union, and would be able to say that they would rather have union men than any other. The speaker advocated a fair trial of the new Arbitration Amendment Act befor either one side or the other condemned it altogether. Dealing with capital and labor, Mr McArtney said that there was after all not so much difference. The one H ras represented by: golden sovereigns and the other by the brains and hands of the workers. They were both anxious to invest them in the best possible way ? and could anyone blame them? Capital and labor should go hand in hand—not antagonistically.

OUR MINERAL RESOURCES

New Zealand was very rich in mineral resources, but there were many ways in which the Mines Department might be improved. For instance, if a man took up a mining lease he was1 called upon to pay the survey fees and also a hall-year's rent in advance. He thought the half-year's rent might very well be left uncollected until the man had given the ground a trial. The Mines Department was not doing anything like justice to the fine natural resources of the country. The Tourist Department advertised Very freely, and why should not the mineral department also ? It would pay the Government to place on the Estimates yearly a sufficient sum to work the diamond drill,: which they all knew of. Tests should be applied for various minerals/ and the result advertised, with a view to attracting speculators. It only needed urging upon the Government, and they would take up the work and furnish the information to the outside world of what the mineral resources of New Zealand were.

THE MAIN TRUNK LINE

Ldcaj wants, claimed the speaker's attention also. The extension of the Main Trunk line w^s a work which should claim the sympathy of all the people of Marlbbroiigh^ and |iii fact of tho South Island- The candidate here reviewed the doings of the deputation m regard to the matter, saying next year he believed the deputation would be \earlier in the field. The Flaxbourne settlers had taken up their land' on the understanding that the line would be extended, and why should not that promise be kept? It was due to them that the line should be extended, and he hoped to see a stronger deputation and also the Members of _the whole of the South Island urging upon the Government the desirability of.the completion of the line. They had £50,ODO voted for the line this'year j and it ought at any rate to be doubled next year. Hs hoped that the Minr ister for Public*. Works would keep his promise, and that a much larger sum would be placed on the Estimates next year.

BRIDGE AT lIENWICKT-OWN

Another important work for the province was the bridging of the Wairau and Opawa Rivers at Renwicktown. The speaker had been over on a deputation about it rather more than a year ago, and they practically got no answer at all. /The Minister had asked the deputation if the local bodies were wiling to find £ for £ <on the money gjven by the Government. How could any local body find £ for £ for a work of this sort, when they were at their wits' end to keep up their own roads and bridges ? The work in question was a national work which should be done by the Government, and was greatly for the benefit of the travelling public of the Dominion, not merely the residents of Marlboroughs. He would say this: that,should he be returned, he would urge the work on the- Government, and would ask the people to back him up with deputations until he did get some sort of a different answer to the one given to the deputation. Of course they must be united as to the place where the bridge was to be built, and he thought the proper place was over the two" rivers at Renwick. He believed that if, the Member for the district woi'ked and was backed up by the people, pressure could be brought to bear on the Government, and they would get the work completed.

WHITE'S BAY

A road to White's Bay was also a desirable acquisition, though of not so much importance as some other matters. The road would be of great advantage to the public if the work were carried out.

DEFENCE

Dealing with ihe defence of the Dominion, the candidate said it was the most important work of all. We in this country were trying to build up our portion of the Empire by spending large amounts of money in vai'ious civil works, but we were leav-

ing the Dominion entirely unprotected. The naval subsidy had been increased, but apart from that nothing had been done. We should have to give more encouragement to the Volunteer Forces, of the country and to the protection of our country, or some day it would be too late. Who would have to carry the blame? It would be no use blaming anybody then. He wanted to impress upon the people the necessity of this work. The question must be faced and the work carried out without any undue delay. The Minister for Defence had said that every penny that was being spent on defence was being spent on an approved plan. That was comforting news, but the Minister was not always like that. Speaking at a recent function he had _ said we were living in a fool's paradise, and when asked for an explanation he had said that he wanted to impress upon the young men the necessity, of learning how to defend their nation. Employers should allow their young men time off to go through the necessary training, and he would say that in the future he believed that employers would give preference for employment to the young men who had been through that training. While he believed that naval defence was the best for usj the land forces wanted proper encouragement. The speaker then referred to his remarks made to the young men who went to fight in South Africa, and he asked did they think he was merely flatte-ring them? No. He said how useful it would be to the Dominion if . the men could have some practical experience in actual warfare. The Government should give every encouragement to the Volunteers and the rifle cjubs in the- county, for when we came to fight we wanted to win all along the line, and hot fight a forlorn hope.

DAIRY REGULATIONS

Dealing with another local matter, the speaker said he wished them to understand that Avkile he was a Government supporter he was not going to be a blind follower without any opinions of his own. He supported the Government on their main policy, but he" was not going to be told how to speak and vote. (Applause.) He then referred to the Dairy Regulations. He believed that they were harassing to the people, and he could not understand, how they could have been passed as they were. So far as he could see, it appeared to him that the object was to; force the dairy business into the hands of large dairies and to cfush the small dairyman. It was quite, right that the dairies should be kept .properly clean, but there was no necessity to go further. In one or two instances a couple of cows were kept just for their own use, but they were called •upon-to. sell milk to their neighbours, who said they could not get it anywhere else. Now, so , long as the dairy was kept clean and the milk was pure surely there was no need to go further. He could only say that he did not think it was fair, and the regulations wero quite uncalled for, and even if they were bafore a committee they could not have ..known anything about it. (Applause.) The candidate then again in general terms referred to his life m Marlborough, and he" promised that if he were elected he would do his utmost to further the interests of the electorate. He then appealed to those present for their support, and said if he were returned he would look for the support of all the electors—whether they voted for him or not. (Applause.) In answer to questions asked, Mr McArtney stated that he believed in the three-fifths majority for the nolicense poll, as if it were,decided by a substantial majority the other side would, not be able to win it back again so long. On a small majority the voting might be backwards and forwards. In answer as to whether he favoured the establishment of a State Bank, he replied that he must at present say " No." He had heard it argued out, and he thought it would be a very unsafe business for the State to carry on. He would do his best to get thft Grovetown station improved if possible—at any rate, he was in favour of it.

Mr March proposed that Mr McArtney be thanked for his address, and that this meeting has every confidence in the' policy of the Liberal Government.

The motion was duly-seconded .-nrl carried unanimously.

Mr- McArtney briefly acknowledged the thanks conveyed to him.

The usual vote of ' thanks to the chair brought the meeting to a close.