MR MASSEY AT NASEBY.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 36, Issue 9469, 28 April 1905, Page 4

MR MASSEY AT NASEBY.

Mr Massey addressed a meeting of filly 200 electors in the Town Hall, Nffspby, on Thursday, ':*otli in'st. The 3in'yor (Mr Cutten) presided. Mr J. It..Smith county chait'tnan, and Mr A. 1.. Herdman, M.H.H., were idso nccommodnted with seats on the platform . Mr Mnssey received a most hearty welcome on rising to speak. He commenced by thanking the people for the opportunity they afforded him. that evening of speaking on the moxt important political questions of the day. Inst year lio was asked to visit the district, hut, having made other -Jirrnngements, he was unable to comply with the requeht, though he promised ho would visit the district at some fnturft- timo, and he was there that jughttokeepthe promise.— (Applause,) With rfgarrl to the, position of the Opposition party, ho desired to say that its members weie Liberals in the liest. sense r.f the word genuine Liberals. They were anxious to pro- '. mote the welfare of the country and tfie happiness of the ppoplo \ they were anxious to prevent the cpJ.Qny being dorninated hy one man or one set of men ; and they were anxious for honest government and pure administration.— (ApplfifUse.) With regard to (inanop, he wished to say this : certain articles, evidently inspired, had appeared in a few of the papers with regard Ux a statement he was supposed to have made about the loan placed on the London market pome time ago. Prom the newspapers he had learned —all the information it was so. far- possible to obtain on this matter had been obtained from the newspapers that the last million Joan, in eo.nnection wjth which there had been a certain amount of mild bo.asting, was floated at 4 per cent and that it was a seven years' loan. There was, however, a peculiar condition in connection with it—namely, that at the end of two years any hit vestor could convert hia 4 per cent Stock into 3£ per pent stock, at a premium of JJ3. In other words if a man invested £IO,O. he would get 4 per cent per annum., and for the two year.i he would receive £B. If lie converted at tho en.d of two years, ho would receive £Z of stock hy way of, premium,making £ll for thetwoyears When the lo;in was, floated he said ihnMhisarrangement meant a return to the investor of 5£ per cent for each of the two years," There was. no getting away front that. But lie had been taken to task for making that statement, It was said that the & per cent should he spread over the whole term of the loan, Rut. he did not * think so, because the 3 per cent stock ought to he woith par. Even Jtow, when our stocks were lower thaw they had been for year*, our 3 J- per cents were quoted at £99 10s, and at ' the time the loan was floated they 'were worth £.101,. One had to re-. 1 member, too, that there were certain expenses connected with the floating of the loan. There would be 1 per cent for underwriting, there wo.uk} he stampage duty, brokerage, and, something—he was not able to say h,°w much —in the way o| prepaid interest, \ . SO that probably the loan would >wt ' net more than £9,7 10s. There might \ be a difference of opinion as to the price at which the loan should have l>een floated. For himself, lie though it should have been placed at 3.J per cent. Natal anriSnutl) Australia hadgottheir loans at a lower rate than New Zealand, but he held that New Zealand ought to be able to. get its money o,t a lower rate than South Africa or any of .the Australian colonies, — (Applause.) H> would move for a return at the first opportunity as t'o the details of the loan, and the people could then judge for themselves as to who was right and who, vyaa wrong. When the Premier addressed p.otitica,)) meetings he asserted that the Oppo-. aition had no policy, bub he would show them that they had a policy, and, . that it would be in the interests ; of the country- to, adopt that policy. Thar, the Premier valued their pojicy they had had some- experience. At i.i social, in Auckland ho (Mr Alassey) /Urged the necessity for reforming the Legislative, Council, imd th.e very next day the Premier got up in the House and said the Council ought to be re-' formed.—(Laughter,). He(M v Massey) h'-id tried in g<-t a re-enactment of t.he Homestead Act which w:m repealed by the present, Government. Now the Premier was coming round to that way of thinking and told th -people he was going to introduce a Homestead Bill next session. Then there wore ' hundreds of thousands of acres of native .-' lands locked up in the North, Is,land. He (Mr >'assey) proposed a remedy whereby some of those landa .night be, thrown open, and, although the Premier had opposed this so long, he had actually told the. Natives in the North island the other day that he was going to adopt the suggestion, "only he didn't give him (Mr Mass<-y) credit for it.—(Laughter.) The freehold was also a plunk in tluir policy. His party, spanking gemrilly, was of opinion ihat the settWs on Crown Lands should be given tho option of the freehold.—(Applause and dissent.) The Government said " No" to, this. Tho Opposition was in favour- of t.he Legislative Council being elective, and the Government said •' No '* to this ; tho Opposition was in favour of ii, Public Heiviuo Board, but the Governmentsaid " No"; and the Opposition was in favour of a proper audit, of ac-

count*, but .the Government, said' " No " ; the Opposition-was in-favour of a satisfactory settlement of the Natj\ e land difficulty, and the Premier wan coming round to their way of thinking, They were in favour of economy and sound finance, while, judging by its action, the Government was in favour of extravagance J they ((ho Oppo ition) were in f>ivi.>ur of local government reform, and of a siiiKingfund being provided in connection witli their loans, and this the Government said was not wanted, It was said settlers who desired to obtain the freehold wished to break tho contract between themselves and the suite. A Fair llent Bill had been introduced 11 times since he had been in Parliament. It provided that a hoard of three men was to have the right to raise or lower rentals in the colony, including Crown lands. If that bill had passed, where would the lease in perpetuity have been \ It would not have been worth t.he paper the lease was printed on, and the lease in perpetuity holders would have been absolutely at the mercy of the board and of the Government of the day. No wonder the settlers had become disquieted. There were hundreds of thousands of acres of land leased under lease in perpetuity from which not a, single shilling of laud tax was collected The leaseholders were told they were much 'better off as they were. Not at all. The settlers desired a, securer form of tenure, and they were willing to pay their fair share of taction. As for tho Land Commission, he thought when it was appointed it would cost £SOOO or £6.00,0,, but he ventured to say now it would cost more \\\;\n double that sum., while the report would be worth absolutely nothing. Every settler worth .hjasai't wished to own hia holding, and it did not require a Royal Commission per-, ambulating the country at a post of ■ £3.0 or £-40 a day to find that out. Pie believed it would be in. the interZests of the State and. the settlers that the option, of the freehold should he given to settlers an Cro.wn la.nds, In reference to the expenditure on public works, and particularly on roads and bridges, Mr Massey said that £3.00000. or- £400,0.0,0, was generally voted annually for roads n, n d bridges, and the Premier had been telling the people recently that he intended setting apart '£500,000 for that purpose. Well, that amount might be voted l , but it would probably not be expended for three or fo.ur yeira. He wished to show that members had; very hUle control; over that expenditure. Many people imagined that when a member I wanted money for his district he had i o,nly- to. move that £20,0 or £j-500, as , the case might be, be set apart for- a : particular work. It was nothing of I the sort, Certain form,s. had to begone through. Any proposal in connection with expenditure must come ■ fluwn by Governor's Message and must be mo.vcd b,y a Minister,, and the House as a whole knew nothing of th.e expenditure on roads, and bridges, 1 and works of that sort, until they were ,in print and laid before Parliament, i wlven ;t was almost impossible to ma,ke any alteration.. Such, a system was i liable to he ab.used, and he. honestly believed it was abused, A large p,ro- ' portion o.f- the money voted in th.is, way was, h.e believed, wasted.. Tho.u--•sanda oij pnunds. were voted for places that many members had never heard . of A n,o.d as. some nvmhers. were anxious, for votes for their own districts theydid n.o.t care to. interfere with anyone else. Que way to remedy- thia was that a Public Works, Committee should be set up to consider all applications for p.u,bli,c money, so that a check might be put on improper expenditure, A. better remedy would be found in an 'amendment of the whole local bodies system.. In some parts of the colony th.ey had a dual system—county coun-. oils and road boards.. If the people of a district thought the road board sys- ' tern was the best, ],et them have it ; i£_ they preferred the other, let them have that, Mr- Seddon said he was going to give the l;ocal. bodies an assured finance, but he said that 11 years ago. One way to,da that would be lo place the main arterial roads under the Roads and Bridges Department, and let them, be maintained, by the general Government. A year or two ago the rate, of interest under the Loans to Local bodies Act was raised, which w 'is. a mistake. When works were requhed in. a, • d.is.t riot the bodies concerned ought to be encouraged to borrow under that act v and, h.e would even subsidise them, fie believed it would pay. Something ought certainly .to bo done in, the way of graduated subsidies. At present th.e local bodies were'subsidised ,on the amount collected,, but it ought to be on theamount of- the rate) That would be an assistance to th.e local bodies that required funds and were prepared to, help themselves, and it would do away with the wretched system, oij grants for roads and bridges—a system that was turning the House of Representatives into, a huge and corrupt board of works.. Mr Massey then referred'at length to the- late sittings of Parliament, criticising very severely the custom of foicing legislation through a, some-, what somnolent House after midnight. The method of withholding information by keeping back the Public Works Statement and -Estimates till the end of the session also"' was com-' meuV'd o,n at length. The speaker considered that they were kept back in order to keep the House in a state of'subserviency.'- Some members .seats ' depended on the amount of ! money they coidd. bring back for their -dis :

tricts, and they were anxious nqt-to. pflen'fl the Government till they saw how nuioh they got. In his speeches the Premier was in the habit of giving hia. audience the impression that the country was particularly prosperous, and that the prosperity was due to. his Government. What hnxlrnade the prosperity was the war in' the Hast, the Boer war, and the drought in Australia, There had been a great cleniand'for everything they produced. The prosperity could he enhanced by a suggestion he would (flake. They could vote money for deep lead prospecting. He remembered onoe helping to pass £50,000 for prospeoting. Two or three years afterwards he wanted to know how the money had been spent. Me turned up the reoords and found that, nearly the whole of it went to tho "West Coast, The Government had very little to do with the prosperity. Whatever Government was cm the benches the country .would have been prosperous. A great deal more could have been done for the country. Large areas, of Grown lands lying idle could haye been settled. The public works cost 25 per cent, more than they should post, Look, at I the indebtedness, of the oountry heiug piled up. He favoured reasonable borrowing, but he did the country get value for- the money borrowed, i Taxation was being increased. Since 1895. the taxes had been, increased £1 Is 3d per head A The colony's in-, j dehtedness was increasing by £2,000,000, every year. The time was causing when they would not only have to find money to carry on with," but to pay interest on the borrowed millions, Mr Massey then referred to the provision made last session for a. High Commissioner and said, that the position was m.adefo.v the Premier by the Premier. It was quite an unnecessary office! as the present office of Agent-General was quite sufj&cjent for the requirements, of the- comuv. 'Tt had been said the Opposition would abojish oJd-a,ge pensions.. There was net a m,an in the Opposition who, was opposed to the principle of old-age pe.nsio.ns ;• but the present system, Imperfect ; it did not discriminate be- ' twean the deserving and the undeserving. Some day when statesmen took; up. th.e reins of j men rather- than politicians—the pen- | sio,n scheme \yo.uld be u.V l d& a, genera.l | one. Either that would have to he done or the country would have to go in for- a, contributory system subsidised by the State. The "spoils to the victors '* system, was next dealt with* and condemned hi unsparing terms. The Premier had said the Opposition, would not dare to repeal any of the acta pas-. sed, b,y h;a Government. Weil, the ' Shops and Offices Act required amending. Another one was th.e' Pubr lie- Revenues Act of which curtailed th.e powers of th.e AuditorGeneral.. The accounts of the.Cus-. Toms Department-,, the Lands Depart-. m,ei!,t and the Railway Department an amount of about five millions did not pass th.e auditor-. It also gave the Minister for Pu.bl.ic Works ■ power to. tafee money voted for certain works and expend it on a similar class of work- somewhere else. It was. an improper power. After referring to ' the duties of a member-of the House of Representatives, and to. the desirability of placing the tenure of the Mag-. isteri,al, ofs;ce on the same footing, as. the judges of the Supreme Court, and increasing the salary of that class of officials in oflder to induce the best men to seels th.e office, Mr Massey concluded by-a criticism of Ministerial tactics,, in which he referred, to the way a speech of Mr Secldo.n's had been manipulated to catch the electors of Pa.hi.atua a,t the bye-J-leeti,on. after Mr ' 0. l Mea,ra's death. Tke speech when delivered 1 and printed containedso me remarks against the freehold. When the by-£leetioii canoe on ■it was. reprinted,. a,nd all reference to the free.*hold omitted, as the Pahiatua electors are strongly in favour ofj that form of tenure.

M r J,. R, Sni.ith, ask.ed if M r Massey was in favour of introducing the Bibl.e i.n.to the publ.iq schools.

Air Massey said he could not answer the question with a direqt yes or up. As his party- had not considered the question a,s. a body,, he cpuld,only speak for himself. He believed in the in-_ spira,tion of the. Scriptures,, and. if there was only one sect in the country he'would say it \yaa a proper thing to. have the Scriptures read in the public schools. But as there were a number •of sects they- might be introducing sectarian differences, and prejudices.. It had been suggested' that the questi.on should be referred to the people | by way of a. referendum,, and he would 1 have no, objection to that, but the 'manner in which, the question was put to, the people would have to he pare-. | f-utly considered. It might be possiblethat Parliament could arrange'matters, in such a way that extracts could be read without causing trouble.. ' If the churches would combine on the point, he waa with them, ; ; if not,; he thought they had better leave it alone.

Rev. Mc Smith,; -'Are you a\vare x Mi:-\Massey jr tha,t the churches have agreed 4,it..f'' Mr Massey: What about the Roman, Catholic.Church l

Mr Smith : ; The Protestant churches have agreed, Mr John Law- % jun.,. drew Mr Massey s attention to, the difference in. the amount demanded; by the owner for the FJaxbourne Estate and that eventually paid, arid asked how that transaction commended itself to him

a.3=an instance of.the security_of the freehold-form of tenure. '---"*-' M r M assey considered that that an argument in-favaur of the freehold, The country never parted, with the land ; "it "merely decided whether'the tenure should be freehold or leasehold ■He then gave an instanpeof where the leases of some settlers in Taranaki had heen taken for i\ recreation reserve and they did not havo an opportunity of going to the Supreme Court,.to have the compensation fixed. Everyone of them was petitioning Parliament for an increase of the amount given. Mr Law then asked if Mr Maawey would abolish the lease in perpetuity system if he obtained tho reina of power.

Mr Massey replied that ho would abolish that system, hut would give every man the . option of leasehold or freehold.

In reply to Mr Brown (Gimmerburn) Mr Massey aaid if a man was not satisfied with the decision of the Land Board he could appeal to the Supreme Court, There was certainly such an appeal.either from the Laim Hoard or the. Minister in the ease of a man whose section had been forfeited unjustly. There ought to be an appeal to the Supreme Court in every caae. Mr R, Scctt moved a. hearty vote of thanks to. Mr Massey for'his address.

Mr James Brown seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously, Mr Massey returned thank.s, and the usual compliment to th,e chah* closed the meeting.