The Government Side.

Northern Advocate, 20 February 1911, Page 4

The Government Side.

HON DE. FINDLAY IN WHANGABEf.

POLITICAL ADDRESS.

REPLY TO MR MASSEY,

The announcement that so able a speaker and so prominent a politician as the Hon. Dr. Findlay, Minister for Justice and Attorney-General, would speak in the Theatre Royal on Saturday night on the political aspect of affairs of New Zealand, attracted a croAvded audience, who enjoyed the eminent Minister's rhetorical delivery ' to the full, and frequently applauded. enthusiastically the.points which he made so clearly and tellingly.

His Worship the Mayor (Mr T. H. Steadman) presided, and Mrs Findlay Avas also on the platform.

In introducing the Minister the Mayor was the essence, of discreet brevity, and merely stated that Dr. Findlay had spoken in Whangarei not long ago, and that consequently there v/as no necessity for the Chairman to make an introductory speech.

Dr. Findlay, who was received with very hearty acclaim on rising to speak, said that no doubt they had all observed the common feature that aa people got on in the world the more other people became anxious to call on them and claim acquaintance. That Avas also true of towns and districts, and among the proofs that the town and district of Whangarei were advancing was the eagerness of Ministers and politicians to come here and address the progressive and enlightened residents. Alluding to his Whangarei visit some months since and the cheering reception accorded him on that occasion, the speaker said that he had then promised to come again and discuss local and national questions, and he was now here in fulfilment of that promise. Since then Mr Massey had spoken in Whangarei and had delivered what proved to be aa important policy speech, which had been well and widely reported. He hoped to be able to reply to that speech (Applause).

POLITICAL DEVILS AND SAINTS.

The speaker wished to recall to the minds of his hearers that the Leader of the Opposition had drawn a direct contrast between the policy of the Government and that of the Opposition, and had attempted \ to demonstrate (no doubt tcr his own satisfaction) that the Government policy Avas one of reckless plunging, tarnmanyism, and altogether a thing of shreds and patches, and that the Opposition possessed all the virtues. Mr Massey had declared that between the two parties a great gulf was fixed— deep, Avide, and wholly impassable. He (Dr. Findlay) also recognised that a wide difference existed, and nothing gave him more pleasurable satisfaction than that knowledge. The crowning result of Mr Massey's conclusions was that the policy of the Opposition w v as one of honesty, and that of the Government one of humbug. What raised wonder in the speaker's mind was that, if this Government were the thing of shreds and patches and all evil as Mr Massey enunciated, an enlightened people had not long since buried it out of sight and put in its place the party of all the virtues. A strikingly curious point raised by Mr Massey's contention was that the majority of the people in the of New Zealand were on the side of political devils and opposed to political saints. The latter might be enshrined some day. Dr. Findlay desired to get down to the living and radical principles of society in New Zear land and its politics. He emphasised that, while he was not bound to accept Mr Massey's viewsi he was entitled to accept the policy Mr Massey advocated as that of the Opposition, and to deal Vith it. All who had heard or read Mr Massey's speech must be driven to admit that a more barren and unprogressiye platform and a more negative policy had never been proposed by a Conservative leader in this Dominion. The speaker would not draw differences which involved the use of hard names and serious charges. He would ignore these until they were clearly demonstrated, would assume that the Government party was as honest as Mr Massey's, and would not submit any. defence until the charges were established. Any political party which lived on the Massey kind of abuse was c. very poor party indeed. WHAT IS THE ACTUAL DIFFERENCE? Mr Massey, the Hon. Dr. continued, bad stated the Opposition policy was that of private enterprise, and the Government policy that of State control. Surely that constituted a betrayal of the fact that the Opposition stood against progress.

Mr Massey had no hesitation in declaring that he was an advocate of private enterprise, that he was one of the old Manchester school of politicians who believed in the survival of the fittest. Private enterprise stood against State activity, State assistance to those who asked and needed assistance, State ideals to improve the social and moral conditions of the people and in making the country prosperous and habitable for all. Mr Massey's idea was that the State should limit its functions to the protection of life and property, and allow private enterprise to work out its own salvation —or damnation. In- the Opposition idea the State should fill the office of a. general policeman, and leave ihe individual to take care of himself. That was not the political doctrine of the present Administration. That was neither the doctrine of a humanitarian nor a humanitarian Government. It was hopeless to talk about each man seizing the opporjtuni ity and working out his own destiny

if the great mass of the people never met with-opportunity and were with.out means (Applause). They had all .seen what private enterprise had done for the great mass of the people in older countries, and New Zealand must take the lesson. In this land there must be no hardship forced upon the masses by the wealth and greed of the feAV, and while he (Dr. Findlay) was in public life he Avould do all he could to prevent it. He did not desire that they should think the Government wished to stop private enterprise, but all must be helped to op-I-crtunity and given a chance to live in comfort. "Who," the speaker asked, "would denounce the Advances to Settlers' Act that had assisted so many prosperous farmers to get holdings .And homes of their own?" Yet in 1904 Mr Massey had striven to prevent that Act being placed on the Statute Book. Who opposed the Lands for Settlement Act Avhen the late Mr John McKenzie declared that the Government must take the land for the people, even if they had to take the rich landlord by the throat and force him to give it up? Who opposed that beneficial measure but the party led by Mr Massey; and he could produce book and page to prove it. Yet Mr Massey was a fairweather politician, who failed to say how he would undertake to benefit the people if he Avas in power to-morrow. The Government each year increased the opportunities for advancement to its people who were without means. The normal yearly increase in New Zealand's population was 26,000, and Tiow many of those people Avere born with wealth and opportunity of their own? It was the duty of a progressive State to be the parent of its ■children, not to provide more for those who have much, but to provide assistance for those who were willing to work with their hands and their v.rains. The Charter of Liberalism meant equal access to opportunity, and it was the duty of a State so wealthy as New Zealand to provide means for its people to become prosperous. The first essential was access to the land with security of tenure (Loud applause). It was not a mere question of the leasehold or the freehold; they could discuss the tenure afterwards. The first duty of the Government was to settle its people on the land. Mr Massey had charged the . Government with withholding the

freehold. That was more of the Opposition misrepresentation and distortion, as figures would proA-e. New Zealand was a rural country; it was the duty of the State to discourage the overcrowding of toAvns and cities. The land was for the people, and the people should occupy it on terms best suited to the individual himself.

LEASEHOLD TENURE.

The Government had set aside areas of land as a national endowment to provide for the future, for his (the speaker's) and all other people's children. They should not overlook the fact that it was to apply to all, and not to any one section. It might be true in.the main that the Government had tried to promote the tenure of leasehold, and what tenure suited the poor man better? It had made many an impoverished man comfortable, and was it fair and just that some of these ■very men should now turn round, malign the Government which had helped them, and forget the obligations of the past? In the last nine ■months, out of 1501 persons who had been placed on the* land, 133 had taken up their holdings for cash, 351 with the right of purchase, and the remainder on renewable lease. The figures for the whole Dominion established the fact that leaseholders preponderated. Take the lands opened in Auckland province during the last four years and nine months. These comprised 156,000 acres taken on the optional tenure, 84,000 acres on renewable lease, 53,000 under land for settlement, and 1727 acres miscellaneous. Thus the optional, tenure greatly exceeded all others. This illustrated the weakness of all the fuss and agitation i;bout leaseholders desiring to concert their holdings into freehold. Thousands had taken up land under the right-of-purchase clause, and xhough that tenure had been in force lor years past, only a small proportion of those thousands had converted their holdings into freehold. Yet •they were told that leaseholders were 'desirous and dying to exchange intc freehold.

SEVEN LIBERAL PRINCIPLES,

Dr. Findlay then enunciated seven foasic principles on Avhich the Liberal party sought to legislate, and they were as follow:—

(1) Access to land, with security of tenure.

(2) Access to capital, at the lowest ■i ossible rates at which it could be obtained by means of the State's credit.

(3). The duty of the State to provide access to communication and transportation—free where possible, ■otherwise at the lowest rate.

(4). The duty of the State to provide for the people power and light at the lowest price.

(5). Unimpeded access to the Liav. (6). Access to insurance—life, fire, Invalidity, and unemployment.

(7). Access for all children (other than those naturally debarred) to education—primary, secondary, technical, ■and uniA r ersity.

It was the duty of a progressive State (the speaker added) to provide •for its people the tools necessary to their living—whether power, light, or education —so that the people could work out their own social betterment.

If judged by these tests, the Minister asked, had the present Government deserved such condemnation as Mr Massey thundered forth? If they did not agree Avith the principles the speaker had mentioned, then let them say "good-bye," for he did not want to discuss the matter further with then): but if they Avere Avith him, then let them unite in arriving at the real and proper tests. On the tests of

what had been done to advance the aims embodied in these principles, the Government Avas prepared to stand or fall (applause).

LAND SETTLEMENT.

He need not go back to the deplorable condition in Avhich the late Hon. John McKenzie had found the country except to allude to the grand change of those conditions which, that Minister had initiated. The present Government had taken over the gigantic area of 6,000,000 acres of land for tliF people. Recently the speaker had visited Cheviot, and "a settler there (who represented many similar c.ses) had said that in 1889 (or 1890) he had been a tinker, with a wife and i everal small children to support. The rinker had drawn a section at Cheviot, f-.nd Avhen he went there, with very small means and little knoAvledge of ihe best procedure, the neighbors had i-clped him all they could. By means of the land, and the capital lent to him by the Government, that man could now look the A-vorld in the face as independent. That man oAved his position to the late John McKenzie and to the Government's land policy (Loud applause). Under the Lands for Settlement Act the Government was buying up more and more land, and was settling on it thousands of people yearly. They had also placed on th? Statute Book the Land Special Settlement Finance Act. By making use nf that measure any five or more persons who agreed to do so could ask the State to guarantee all the purchase money for an area of land that they might wish'to acquire. Already 200 persons had been settled in that manner. There Avas no longer the bar of want of capital to those who desired to take up land. Another Bill passon last year dealt partly Avith fruit farms and partly with dairying, and Avas beneficially open to those who desired to take advantage of the conditions. In reference to the fruit industry, he believed that the North Avould yet become the

NEW ZEALAND FRUIT GARDEN OF

EDEN,

but they must have State aid to secure ihat desideratum. The potentialities were already there. The Government also proposed to make farms available near the cities. In common justice, he asked that the Government should be tried on the measure of its success in all the directions named. This country was not a land of the dimensions of Canada, where illimitable aieas were still unoccupied. There were now 4% million acres available in NeAv Zealand, but the' time must arrive when all that would be gone, and the people must join with the Government in breaking up more large estates. They could not allow any one man to occupy 100,000 acres when struggling people by the hundred Avere pleading for land. At one time the country districts in New Zealand were the most populated portions., but now the population was drawing to the toAvn and city centres, where the conditions of health could not be so good, and they must endeavor to jectify this tendency to deplete the country and congest the centres. One of Sir Joseph Ward's ideals was to connect every way-back settler Avith the various centres by telephone to relieve him of the danger of isolation to himself and his wife and family. This isolation was one of the cruellest features of back-block life, and the Premier meant to remove it (Hear, hear, and applause).

TO HELP THE PEOPLE.

It was idle to talk about a man developing the land if he had not a shilling in his pocket. To help men to get upon the land and to make homes for themselves and their families the Government had, through the Advances to Settlers' Department, lent eleven and a half millions sterling, and through the Advances to Workers Department one and a half millions sterling, and the Government had lost nothing. Since then the Government had borrowed two millions, with which to help the settler and the worker,, to promote the welfare of thousands, and to give the people of the State access to capital at the loavest possible rate of interest. The State had done more to cheapen money than any private institution or private enterprise, and in spite of Mr Massey and the Opposition (Loud applause). Another duty of the State was to provide access to communication and transport. New Zealand had the cheapest and most expeditious postal system in the world (Applause). Sir Joseph Ward, who Avas so much abused by Mr Massey, deserved the gratitude of the people for that fact alone. Since the introduction of penny postage the postal business of the country had grown at an astounding pace. In ten years the number of letters put through the Auckland post office had increased from four to ten millions a year. In serving the people with telegraphic, telephonic, and noAV wireless communication, Sir Joseph Ward was proving that he Avas heart and sou! with the comfort and the safety of the people (Loud applause).

The Raihvays Avere also a blessing to all classes of people, but particularly the people in country districts like Whangarei. Many years ago the toll gate in New Zealand was abolished, the people had free access to the highways, and the Government was still continuing its policy of forming roads and building bridges so that produce could reach the markets. The attitude of the State was as the parent of the people; it had no right to exploit the people or to reap huge profits. They had heard the cry from the Opposition voices that the railways Avere not earning the profits the opponents of the Government thought they should. Sir Joseph Ward, as Minister for Finance, did not look to fill his exchequer out of the public service but gave back to the people every nenny of profit on the railways in further concessions. To see the raihvays

paying a profit would look very well, but it was much better to help the con ditiou of the people and in the advancement of the producing power of the country. New Zealand was not a bankrupt country; it Avas rich and prosperous, and had untold natural resources. The people must take courage to themselves and for their future. The Government was wise and fully entitled to develop the country by borrowing money in the London market on sound financial grounds.. Thy increased development of New Zealand would more than pay the interest, and the general weil-being of all would l:e improved.

It Avas also the duty of the Government to give the people cheap access to motor power, light and heat. In England and other countries there Avere large manufacturing pop ulations in their over-crowded cities. Here that condition of things was to be avoided, and motor power, Light and heat should be available to all. The State Avas prepared to utilise ,G500,000 a year to develop the Avater power of the Dominion, and within

a short time the Wairua Fails Avould be harnessed and light and powei supplied to the people of the North at the loAvest possible price. (Prolonged applause).

THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM,

As Minister for Justice he Avas proud of the judicial system of New Zealand. Justice was as free as it was in any country in the world; but it was not yet free enough. Wealth now constituted an advantage in appearing before the Courts; but it Avar the wish of the State that the process of the IaAV should be equally open to the poor and the rich, to make it impossible that the innocent should suffer a conviction. The Government had| j educed the Court fees in many cases A i'nd it was noAV . possible for an absconding husband to be brought back without costing the Avife one penny.

INSURANCE

What the State had done in facilities for insurance had also been of great benefit to the people. They Avould all remember the exorbitant rates charged before the Government Departments had come into existence It was now possible to protect property, life, and the liability of accident at the cheapest possible rate, and Avhile the strong could be left to look after themselves, the Government undertook to take care of the Aveak and to allow the people to ensure against invalidity. Could anyone call «uch care of the people reckless plung iug or revolutionary socialism? The State undertook to see that its people were provided for. It Avas the duty of the State to do so. He was glad of the opportunity to do so, and the scheme should be extended rather than curtailed. The Government had also last session passed a laAv that a rum of money up to £2 per week could be settled upon a child or a person, and no money-lender, no private enterprise, or no Court of law could take it away. Another proposition of zhe Government Avas to enable the people to insure against enforced idleness and lack of employment, so that in time of depression a man's home would be safe from Avant. The State would grapple with the "problem and be had no doubt it Avould be successfully solved. (Applause.)

LIBERALISM'S GREATEST AIM,

The educational system of New Zealand, said Dr. Findlay, gave free primary, secondary, and technical instruction, and shortly he hoped that university education would also be free. Education Avas the - greatest aim of i iberalism, and by it the progress of any nation might be measured. The aim of this democracy should be to make still further educational advances. Every man who had acquired superior knoAvledge and culture could help those around him. The value of education should not be un-der-estimated, and they should see to it that they did not grind education, to death bel\ve3n the millstones of parsimony and denominationalism. Ii New Zealand were to hold its own it must have scientific methods and fcientific appliances. Let them keer. open minds to all that science could teach and give.

HUMANE LEGISLATION,

The Minister claimed that Liberalism had done its best. It was idle to talk to the aged and defective-mind-ed about making use of opportunities There must be opportunities for the young and strong, but there must be an exercise of humanity for those win had fallen by the way. They coult not noAv follow the old-time dictum, "let the weak die," and we should not deserve the name of civilisation if we failed to employ our strength to help the Aveak and let them die in the gutter. The old-age-pension scheme bad been one of the greatest benefits ever conferred, and Avho would now dare to lift up their hands in horror at it? In a dozen or more practical ways the Government had formulated and brought into operation schemes to assist the Aveak and helpless. In the matter of prison reform (applause), it had to be remembered that after all a prisoner was not a beast, but a human being. No fewer than 6000 people Avent to gaol in NeAv Zealnd last year, and what a waste of human l ; fe and poAver that was. The Government would try to saA'e it, and if only a portion Avere rescued it Avould be Avell Avorth the effort. He hoped and believed that tke new scheme would be effective.

THE FIVE MILLION LOAN.

There had been much noise, without much reason, regarding the £5,----000,000 loan. Out of that sum £2,----000,000 would go to help the settlers and £1,500,000 for roads, bridges, an< ether like facilities. Certainly th<~ loan was a large sum, and they migh deplore it if it Avas to ho sn'mt in eri" roAvder; but this avit "~r to be wasted or lost, nor vo:;l 1 it f-*

to pay interest. Let them ask Mr Massey if every practical business nan Avould not approve the financial methods adopted. The Government could cease to borrow, and follow the alternative of taxation, even up to £5,000,000. But who Avould have to provide that taxation? Not the wageearners, but the Avealthy classes, tin.majority of Avhom, he believed, were behind the Opposition party. What did Mr Massey mean by "moderate" oorroAving? He had not specified any sum, and had left the Government i ; the dark as to his actual meaning The people of a country who had pu>. £40,000,000 into the banks ought to be well able to afford to borrow £5,000,000. The Opposition's cry against borrowing disclosed the stand they would take if they ever got into power. It Avas not good policy eithei to give up borroAving or to reduce ibj They had been told that NeAv Zealand's prosperity ayes bogus. That Avas a scandal, which reflected on the* stated and known value of our imports and exports, and the man who. used the tarm Avas either employing, words that he did not understand or was deliberately attempting to mislead his audience. Those who complained most about the payment of the loan interest were those Avho actually benefited most by its' purposes. The Government had spent £11,200,000 for public works, and Avhose property benefited? The property of the largest holders; and if they Avere called en to pay their proportionate share of the tax for the loan, was it fair or reasonable of them to groan? (Applause) .

A NEW ZEALANDER,

In concluding his speech, Dr. Findlay declared that he was a New Zealander, and that he OAved all he hac 1 . in the Avorld to the education that New Zealand had given him for nothing Therefore he felt called on to place, his best service to the interest of a country Avhich had done so much for him. As a democracy NeAv Zealand was proud of the position in which i* stood, and no country in the world had better prospects. Yet there were tnly one million white people, and there was room for more of our own kith and kin. The man who said that the Government was going too fast, and that the country would be overwhelmed in bankruptcy, was not the man whom they should folloAV, bui the man who was hopeful even to the point of optimism. The man who cried "Halt!" and wanted the public works expenditure cut down was not the man who trusted the people as he ought, and Avas not fit to be the people's guide. The speaker could not. believe for a moment that the members of the Government Avere a combination Avhose policy was humbug. Though the Government had its faults, no doubt, it had striven to do its best for the country Avhich they loved just as much as Mr Massey did. .

"I ask you," concluded Dr. Findlay, "to trust New Zealand and to trust the men who trust NeAv Zealand. I ask you to place confidence in that party which for the last twenty years has helped to make NeAv Zealand Avhat i f is." (Loud applause).

THANKS AND CONFIDENCE,

Mr J. Harrison moved as follows: — "That this meeting expresses its thanks to the Hon. Dr. Findlay for his statesmanlike address, and expresses its confidence in the Government of which Sir Joseph Ward is the distinguished head."

The motion was seconded by Mr Skelton and carried by acclamation.

Dr. Findlay responded briefly, and a vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding terminated a memorable occasion.