THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13456, 5 June 1907, Page 8

THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY.

SPEECH BY MR. MILLAR. DEFENCE OF THE LAND BILL. BOARD OF COMMERCE AND WAGES BOARDS. THE RISE-IN THE PRICE OF BREAD. [BY TELEGRAPH.PRESS ASSOCIATION.] • j. Dunedin, Tuesday. . The Hon. J. A. Millar addressed a meeting in the Princess Theatre to-night. Major J. j Loundon presided, and paid a tribute to Mr. Millar for having always safeguarded the interests of this city. ~, ,-.■ ! ■' The Minister assured the gathering that his heart was in Dunedin, and always would be. Referring to the satisfactory condition of defence matters, he thought that the men who had been selected for commandants were in every way-fitted by experience for their position. The volunteer movement/must be | encouraged, and he believed thet Defence Council created would do that, and before long they would find that there were a lot of well-trained men to undertake the defence of their country. A further amendment. had been passed in connection with''the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, under which the judge was made absolutely independent of j the Supreme Court. The result was that the j j judge was enabled to catch up with arrears of work. All arrears of work for many years past would soon be cleared away.! Legislation had also been passed for the adequate inspection of scaffolding, and to give advances to workers up to three-fourths of the value of their property. Of late it had been discovered that the introduction of suction gas plants had been responsible for one fatality, and an amendment had been passed to the Factories, Act to enable the Labour Department to see that in future | precautions were taken to make plants safe. . The Minister referred at' some length to the trainingship'Sparrow, which he said was too much on .the-- small 'side. Unless

a more suitable ship was obtained, he wasi afraid he would not be able to continuej the training, " as there was absolutely no i room. The result of the experiment, how-, ever, he felt sure, would be successful. ; ; FINANCE. I With regard to : finance, Mr. Millar said: the Government had done everything pos- : sible to husband their resources, and do something towards paying off the debt. He considered that the surplus of £717,000, :, after transferring £775,000 to the Public; Works Fund, was pretty good work. : In! addition, £150,000 worth of Treasury bills I had been redeemed. ;. Year .by year there appeared on, the Financial Statement an item showing ;', Treasury bills outstanding £700,000,: and this had been reduced to £550,000. "-It was hoped, in:the course of i time, : as the 'result' of the : Government's j policy, dead loans would be finally, wiped i out. , Reference was made to the substan- 1 , tial increase in exports, imports, and Customs returns, showing that the purchasing power of the people was in no way reduced. ':'*: ;■'•. ■ '■ '■.":'.''■;'.:.. , I - THE LAND BILL. -. The Government was told, he said, that the Bill that was going to. put them out of office was' the Land Bill. U (Hear, hear, and laughter. ' Mr. Massey had attempted to. create, an impression that the Government was attacking freehold; There was not a line in the Bill attacking freehold, excepting that of the man-who held, over £50,000 worth of unimproved value. There had been £77,000,000 worth of freehold sold, but excepting surplus lands, the, Govern-ment-did not intend touching one foot of it;- ' The ; . question to be decided- was not that'of freehold v. leasehold, but that of endowment or no endowment. Despite any statement made by Mr. Massey, the aggregation of large estates was going on and the proof of this lay in the published : table.* In four short years it was ■ seen that the land was steadily going into the . hands of fewer individuals. The reason for the present outcry against the Bill was caused by two factors— 1 according to the banking returns,, the excess of assets . over liabilities, and, secondly, the high price for wool, mutton; and butter in j England..,'- "* -, I * U WAGES BOARD.

Mr. -Millar said he proposed to ask Parliament to authorise the creation of Wages Boards, instead of the present Conciliation Boards, and •he intended striking out on a new line in this direction. He hoped that r these boards would be able to deal with disputes as they: arose, and they would consist of men of the trade on both sides. The Arbitration Court would' remain, and the right of appeal to that body would be granted under certain conditions. No Court could deal with such a scope of country, • and he did not favour the establishment of ' two Courts ma country where the products were interchangeable, and a uniformity of award must be maintained as far as possible. His proposals would be brought down at an early stage of the' session. He had heard it stated that ' the Arbitration Court had done no good for the worker at all: When Parliament met he would place - before it a return showing the improved position in each trade. It had also been stated that the increase in wages had been swallowed up by the increased cost of living. (Hear, hear.) He granted that, but where would they have been if there . had been no increase in wages? .' •-' ■' Vf A member of the audience here entered a protest against the rise in the price of bread. /'; : -" ■ - ■"'

" SOMETHING RADICALLY WRONG."

The Minister said lie did hot profess to know much about this rise, but he would give them a broader view. Surely kauri should be as cheap in;this country as anywhere else, but they found that Inst month's price list issued by one of the largest firms in Melbourne quoted 12iti boards at 225, including a 2s duty, while the same were quoted in Christchurch at 275. This pointed to something being radically wrong, taken to mean a combination. He considered there was no justification for the rise in flour. There was more wheat' in the colony than was required for the people, and yet within 48 hours of a report of a gamble in the market at Chicago the : price . had gone up, and within eight days .had increased £2 10s per ton, while not a. bag left the country. He recommended a Board of Commerce and an export duty to solve the difficulty. If the people were to be bled by such demands it would be necessary to do something of the kind. ■ WORKERS' COMPENSATION. " With regard to the Workers' Compensation Act, lie intended bringing forward some suggested improvements. He saw no reason why a schedule should not be arranged stating the "value" of any accident that could happen to a workman, and he proposed to increase the amount payable for death from £400 to £600. (A Voice: Make it £800.) So as to avoid litigation as far as possible he would submit a schedule for the value of a lost or injured leg or arm. The worker would then get greater benefits than tinder the existing Act, and while there would be no increase in the premiums there would be a great saving of legal expenses. He, had 'a Bill ready now, and it would, be submitted to the Labour Bills Committee as soon as possible. He was sure it would bo agreed thSfc the benefits resulting would be far more than at the present time.

THE HALF-HOLIDAY. ' The Minister said he wished to make the position quite clear with regard • to the Saturday half-holiday controversy. What had happened was this: He had had to administer the law : fully in the case of certain men who had gone- out on strike. Then he had been advised by a certain section of the employers in Wellington to set aside a recommendation of the Conciliation Board, but he declined to do so. He was then quietly informed that while he- was desirous of enforcing Jie law against them it was being winked at in; the country towns in respect of the Saturday half-holi-day. He at once instructed the inspectors to immediately notify that the law must be observed. /' It was his duty to do so, and he would always endeavour to see the law carried out as" closely as possible. (Applause.) To allow any Act to'be hung up would be dangerous and | unconstitutional. Under the Shops and Offices Act he intended to introduce legislation to/deal with Chinese laundry partnerships, which evaded the Act; and steps would be taken to see that, every employee was •an employee 'in fact. / If Chinamen-were to trade in: this country he would see" that it -was/on equal terms with ] Europeans. ' r 'f-•/''■ '■■'■■ -■■' '''' TARIFF PROPOSALS. As to tariff proposals, the principle that would guide the Government would be the reduction of duty on the necessaries of life. At the same. time, every encouragement would be given to , local industries.;■ - They spoke about increasing the population, "keeping the cradles full,"- but what good was that if there was not work provided for the people? He hoped a tariff would be formed to safeguard the two principles he had mentioned. ;. : ' . '"'""/ In conclusion, Mr.-Millar referred to the good work that had been accomplished as the result of the Colonial/Conference,-and lie hoped trade would .be benefited in consequence. Dealing with local -matters// he hoped to see established in Dunedin a veterinary college at the University, and a State coal depot. . '' ; ■■''• ' The Minister, answered a number of questions at the conclusion' of his address, and the following motion was unanimously'pass? Ed, "That this meeting accords to, the Hon. J. A. Millar a : very hearty vote of thanks, for his able and interesting address, and expresses confidence in "the/ Government of which he is a distinguished member.": . /'•.--j.