THE COMING ELECTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11198, 19 October 1899, Page 6

THE COMING ELECTIONS.

ADDRESS BY MR. ARTHUR ROSSER. At St. James' Hall last night Mr. Arthur Rosser, ono of the Labour candidates for Auckland City, addressed a large gathering of the electors. Mr. S. 0. Brown presided. Mr. Rosser announced himself as a supporter of the present Government, but not a slavish supporter. He would support them because they had consistently striven to batter the conditions of the workers in town anil country— town by labour legislation; m the country by helping the farmers with cheap money. (Applause.) Ho was also a supporter of the Government's land policy.

ISOLATED AUCKLAND. Ha referred at length to the isolated position ol Auckland, and said he was in favour of th? Auckland-Wellington railway being pushed through. It would open up settlement. He still took up the position that he had taken up for years,' namely, that die best lino was by the Stratford route, lho consensus of opinion was that the Stratford route would pay because it went through soma splendid land, whereas when the totara forest on the Central line was exhausted they would have to depend on the through traffic, which would have great competition to face from the steamers. There was another line that would bo forced upon us, and that was the connection between Gisborne and Rotorua. He believed a payable line could ue constructed between those points. SAN FRANCISCO MAIL. A matter we would have to watch carefully was tlio San Francisco service. Ho strongly objected to any change in the port of call. (Applause.) We had only to look at the history of different companies that were trading to New Zealand to see how the port of call had drifted away from Auckland. The San Fraucisco service was the best and quickest mail service, and Auckland was ey fa.' the best port of call, and we all ought to be united in insisting that Auckland should bo the port of call. (Applause.) We hail never received our fair share in the past, but in this respect we had one little owe lamb, and' even that was sought to bo taken from us. So that if he were returned to Parliament it would be his especial endeavour to fight against any alteration in the port of call from Auckland to Wellington.

EDUCATION. Touching on education, lie expressed himself ill favour of our compulsory, free, and secular system. (Applause.) He considered that the proper place for the teaching of religious matters was at the home and at ihe Sunday-school, and ho was therefore utterly ■opposed to any Bible reading or any Scripture teaching in our schools. (Applause.) Ho felt that lie had the supreme right to teach his children what ho thought to he right for them, and ho objected to handing that right over to a paid teacher. He was of opinion thai the system required altering in the matter of standard examinations, The compulsory standard examination should bp abolished. Then, again, lie. believed the curriculum was over-loaded. There were many things that were taught that would be of no use to the children in after life. (Applause.) He believed that technical education should play a move important part in our system than it did at present. Continental nations had taken up that matter warmly, and had been teaching their children tlio different branches of the trades they might aspire to, and ho felt confident that we would have to include technical education in our systom, and drop some of tlio subje?:s that woro superfluous. The Government should take the matlor up, and provide education that would shape tlio bent of our boys • and' girls while they were at the public schools, so that when they left those institutions they would not have to wander about before they settled down to some trade. With regard to.the teaching staffs, lie would urgo colonial classification, so that the scheme of payment would bo the same all over the colony. (Applause.)

PROHIBITION. He had been an abstainer from his birth, so there was 110 need in his case for any prohibition. Ho believed in (ho right of the people to rule on any question. As far as the question of prohibition was concorilod, it had gone beyond the control of the Legislature, and it now rested entirely in the hands of the people. It was for the people to say whether they would exercise their right to vote prohibition. So far as members of Parliament were concorned, thev could only control the question by the introdnctjon ° fresh legislation, Which 1, 0 thought they would not be inclined to do. On a question like the present there should be a substantia majority before any measure was carried, and ho was in favour of a threeMbition^ 0 '01 '° Cany reveise ro " SOME GOVERNMENT AND LABOUR . MEASURES, the ques,ion.ofmastersand apprentices was V, °" to hlm > a » (1 I>o should give the Master and Apprentices Act a hearty support. In his own trade of carpentering he knew of only two boys who were apprenticed in Auckland. ("Shame!") If a Ma«n ppre " tic Act were placed 011 tho statute Book the boys would be taught their trado proper y. Wo were told that such a measure as that passed into law -would clo<o up tho avenues of employment to our boys. It might entail hardship for a little time, but people who talked like that should consider the position of the boys' fathers at the present tune. There were so many boys and turnovers in the trade that a man who had learned his trado stood a very poor show of getting a job. There was too much boy labour. Ho believed that the Master and' Apprentices Act would provide for tho boys being bound to an ompolyer, and see that he taught them their trado properly lt would ensure hotter tradesmen and improvers would bo almost unknown. He ooked upon the Conciliation and Arbitration Act as one of tho most beneficient measures that any Government could place on the Statute Books. While it was in force it was most improbable that that deplorable event—a strike— happen in New Zealand. One or two amendments were proposed, and he thought that of Mr. Millar— to secure a uniform stale of things in any ono trado throughout the colony-was a very reasonable one. He was warmly in favour of the Old , Age Pension' Act, and his efforts would bo directed towards getting it made a permanent measure. A Bill that had his heartiest support as a wage-oarnef was the Employment of Girls and Boys Without Payment Bill.' Ho sincerely hoped that it W c oU t. v P asset ' during the present sitting 1 Another good measure was the Workers' Compensation Bill, and he believed that there was every reason to hope that it would bo carried during the present session.

FEDERATION. Ono of tlio burning questions that would coma before the people was federation, and on that lie had a very open inind. While the people in Australia had had the question before them for a very long lime past, we in New Zealand were quite in the dark as to what it would mean to us, because it had only lately come directly under our notice. He was not opposed to federation. When ho was in New South Wales he was an ardent federationalist, but in New Zealand wo must make haste slowly, and consider every step ivo took, so that If wo decided to join it could not be said that we were hurried into it. In the first place if we federated we would lose our individuality, and he believed that the cost would be too great. We would have to contribute onequarter of our revenue, and he did not see where wc would get value for our money. There was a fear in some quarters that if we joined, the other colonies would want to interfere with some of our labour laws, and in cases whore the interests of the State and Commonwealth conflicted the State had to give way. Therefore wo would suffer. In his opinion there should be some provision made for the case of a State wishing to withdraw. -He strongly advocated tho setting up of a committee to gather information that would enable the people to arrive at a. proper conclusion on the matter. (Applause ) THE AUSTRIANS. Ho would like to refer to the position that the Government had taken up with reference to the kauri gum industry. He thought that the measure that was brought in to provide for licenses being taken out to dig for gum was a very necessary one. He had no objection to people coming to the colony from any part of the world so long as they belonged to the white race, and settled in the country. Ho would have no objection to Austrians coming here so long as they were prepared to cast in their lot as bona-fide settlers, but he did object to anyone coming here merely to make money and take it out of the colony, and in so doing leaving parts of the colony poorer by robbing it of the valuable asset of gum. (Applause.) In answer to questions, Mr. Rosser said he was in favour of an eight hours' day wherever it was possible. On the motion of , Mr. W. S. Smith, seconded by Mr. W. Peake, the candidate was accorded a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence. [BY telegraph.—peess ASSOCIATION.] Patea, Wednesday. Mr. Remington delivered an address last night, strongly supporting the Government policy. A resolution of thanks, but 110 confidence as a candidate, was passed by a largo majority." Mr. Francis Hull will address the electors of Manukau in the Public Hall, Howick, at eight o'clock to-morrow night, and in tho Public Hall, Pakuranga, on the night of the 27 th inst/

iiwWßSJissjß' H, 5" fnulv 50 000 acres had bee.) given to the a 'A the North Island. The money to people land had been borrowed in hngbuy this so created an absentee landlordism, Hibv Liberal Government. The office expenses of the Land Act were £3400. They were told that one of improve!\ tthe°Vtks H/TooV 1 dence of want of confidence in the country, or his money wocld have been invested. Mr. Hull also stated that another argument used in favour of the present Government was that the number of peoplel in goal had decreased, not increased, by wu- . J Terrace, this evening, p- ,