THE EDEN CONTEST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14807, 10 October 1911, Page 4

THE EDEN CONTEST.

MR. W. J. SPEIGHT'S PLATFORM ABOLISH THE UPPER HOUSE. BUY AND SELL THE NATIVE LAND. DOWN WITH THE LIQUOR TRADE Mr. W. J. Speight, 'who will contest the Eden seat as a Liberal, addressed a wellattended meeting of electors in the Jubilee Hall, Kingsland, last evening. Mr.. M. J. Coyle, Mayor of Mount Albert, occupied the chair, and in introducing the candidate, said Mr. Speight was not a novice in political life, having been elected in 1879 for City East, besides serving on various local and Government bodies. Mr. Speight had been 45 years in the Auckland province, and now after 25 years in the State Department, he had resigned to re-enter political life.

Mr. Speight was heartily applauded when he rose to speak. He said his opinions now were the same as when he came from ■ Thames in 1879 and won the City East seat against the most popular man Auckland possessed—based upon Liberalism. He had been for 25 years precluded by his position in the public service from taking any active part in politics, but he had regained his freedom, and could exclaim as Gladstone had once exclaimed, ** Unmuzzled." The views he would put before the electors were his opinions on essential points of public policy and administration,, and it was upon these and their trust in his honesty and capacity that the electors were to consider his candi dature.

Worshipping a Fetish. | Mr. Speight commented on the spirit of I hopelessness, which seemed to have taken ' possession of many of the people, -who were in various respects specially suited for rendering good service to the country in Parliament or in the Ministry. Honest and capable men were frequently rejected by the electors, while candidates in many instances not qualified by any marked ability, wisdom, or political honesty were returned with, "record" majorities, to play such pranks in Parliament as brought shame upon their constituencies. * This deplorable condition of things was not. the result of the extension of the franchise to all and sundry of the people. The main cause of the trouble was to be found in the fact that under the present system representation of the people in any true sense was not being obtained at all. They had grown up worshipping that fetish, handed down for centuries past, " majority rule," whereas personal representation in Parliament down to the smallest fraction of people possible was the right of all. Various , devices had • been adopted to minimise the gross injustice of the present system, but all so far had proved failures, 'f he percentage of votes cast at .each of the last six elections for men who failed to be returned averaged 46 por tent, of the whole, so that nearly half o F the whole of the electors voting during the past 15 years might as well have been voteless. They did not influence the return of a single member. _„ .

Remedy for Uneven , Treatment, r True Liberals, said Mr. Speight, could not endorse and support a system which left their opponents silenced in the House of Parliament/and a large proportion of constituencies unrepresented. They did not desire such uneven treatment in public affairs. Several proposals in the direction of preferential voting had been made in New Zealand, and within the past few days the Hon. Geo. Fowlds introduced a Bill for the same end. He hoped that the Liberal party would soon ? proceed to add one more to the benefits conferred upon the country by Liberal administration in the past by 'introducing and passing ,a- Bill giving to v ; the whole people due representation in Parliament, u Under this system a candidate to be elected would not- need to poll a majority of the votes cast, but only a certain proportion of them, known as a quota. ; This system was known as the single trans- j ferable vote. "

Upper House, "An -Echo.* Blocks between the Upper and Lower Houses were not 'infrequent in the early days of Liberalism, said Mr. Speight. Today the Upper House was little more than an echo of the Lower so far as conclusions were concerned. His conception of how to deal with the Upper House, was to abolish it altogether as being an excrescence upon the body politic. He would substitute in its place a real revising body, in tie shape of a score or less of men to whom would be referred all the work proceeding from the 'House of Representatives for revision in small matters and defined suggestions for improvements in larger. These men, or " notables," should,have no power to initiate legislation, or to veto that of the House of Parliament. • The membership of this body should, as-far as possible, consist of men reputed/for-their past public service or their special knowledge in matters relating to political economy, trade, labour, commercial,t educational, and other departments of life. Twothirds of them should be elected by the members of the Lower House by the application of the single transferable vote, and the other third should be appointed .:: by the Crown. Their term should be for six years. He ' thought his scheme, a business-like proposal. ; (Applause).

Anchor by Ownership. Young men, continued Mr. - Speight, touching on the land question, should be given all opportunities for, going upon land. Anchor them down by an ownership of the soil, give them a hope in the future, and our New Zealand population will prove both steadfast and virile above all oleers. The profitable occupancy of the lands of the country lay at the root of all their prosperity. It was noteworthy that difficulties of all kinds presented themselves to people seeking to go upon land. The prices asked and in some cases obtained for land in out-of-the-way districts often took one's breath away; such- prices could only be maintained by the continuance of the present high values of certain land? products, a substantial fall in* which would mean ruin to a fair proportion of workers on the land. The present, Administration had done much in the way of land settlement, but they must be called upon to do still much more. He suggested the speedy placing' of every available acre of the million and a-half of land unoccupied in a position to ",-'. be taken up for settlement, as the first remedy for the high price of land in the Auckland.province. The Crown lands;of the Auckland district should be dealt with and settled before any", large expenditure was incurred in the Southern, parts of s the colony in "resuming" private . lands at high prices for closer settlement purposes. Private lands should not be bought by the Crown merely for the purpose of maintaining a balance of population between the two Islands, or of meeting the desire of large landholders to escape the operation of a graduated land tax. All land offered by the Crown in small areas should be given upon .such tenure as;the man who proposed using it desired, and under certain conditions the farmer should have Jbe right to the freehold. He would submit that in certain cases it would pay the State to give the men an actual present 'of the land where there was genuine settlement upon small areas under lease from the Crown. (Applause!) /

A Begion of Mystery. In dealing with the native land question, which he termed a region of mystery, Mr. Speight said that the non-use "of the lands of native owners," the difficulties and wast* associated with the present mode of obtaining land from the . natives by an ordinary landseeker, and the setting up of a species of European serf-tenancy upon native lands, were subjects which were causing much heartburning. The information given in the public records regarding native lands was of a meagre nature, and proper returns and tables were not available. The total area of native land was over 7£ million acres; and of this about five million acres were lying idle and about two millions leased v the balance, about one half-million acres, was supposed to, be profitably occupied by.

11l »!■ —■— ~~ ~ • ! native owners. By far the greyest portion of the land was in the AuckhNftd das—quite four million acres. He gathered that in 1910 the lands the natives were valued at £i1,410,CW. Thirteen years previously the native lai?a of a greater area than that now held by them was stated to be worth three million pounds, so that, though the area remaining had decreased by about 25 per cent., the values increased by eight arid one-half millions, or nearly' 300 per cent. : MrSpeight said that it should be known what : had given this increased value—the presence and industry of the Europeans who were opening up and developing the country, so enhancing day ;by day the value of the land of the native, who did not pay a shilling towards 7 the , enhancement.

Native Land Should be Taken by Crown. How much longer was this process of stopping settlement to be allowed to continue"/ The remedy was drastic, but simple. A valuation court or board should be set up to fix present values; the native owners should be allowed to name the reservations they needed for their own purposes, and rated for all purposes upon the basis of the unimproved value of the land so reserved. The remainder should be taken by the Crown, not. by way of deferred purchases after negotiations, but in one transaction at"' the prices fixed by the Board. Lands so taken, said Mr. Speight, should be v passed > over to the Crown; land boards" to be dealt* with under the ordinary land laws of the country. The question of the disposal of the purchase money coming to the- natives was a matter that was to be dealt with separately. The course proposed would, in reality, work out in the true interests of the Maori people—it would save the Maori from the life of idleness and chronic want into which the segregation of his race, now being so industriously fostered by the small army of " native doctors" and others seeking their own gain, would, if successful, eventually lead them. The cost of the course would probably be less than j that of a couple of Dreadnoughts, while the gain to the State would be immeasurable. Men who stood in the way of the settlement of land must go out of office, as-far as he was concerned.. (Loud and continued applause.) . *

Education System in Banger. ; : The national educational system, said Mr. Speight, which, with all its shortcomings, had proved itself r such a blessing to the people of the country, was so generally valued in the minds of most, as to be locked upon as r a lasting institution, free from all possible danger of assault. :, But they should not be too sure : upon \ the point. There were not wanting ; signs that, , when opportunity appears %to serve, attempts would be made to impair, its usefulness, if not, • indeed, /;. to endanger its stability. Whether the movement this direction would develop during this; election, or would be deferred until after the composition of the new House was ascertained, a few weeks would telL With the knowledge that such an. attack ; was in. the minds of some, he had i prepared %_ a considerable amount of matter to lay before them bearing upon the? subject, : but, pending the .probable development re-.; ferred to, ; he would confine^nimself to the mere statement that, whether in Parliament or out of it, he would; do a man's full share ;1 in defending the system as it now stood, from assaults from .[whatever quarter eoringing. The only change !he desired to see in the educational facilities afforded to the children was in the, direction of linking up the primary, secondary, and university systems in such a way as to dovetail into each other, and allow of instruction in all three stages to be free of charge from bottom to top.

The ; Liquor Question. To all old residents in the Eden district it ought to be, said Mr. Speight, unnecessary to formulate his - position in -i relation 1 to the liquor question, but for others it might be needed. From his youth up,he had been identified, in his humble way, in public and in private with the movementfor -the extirpation of a traffic whfch he held responsible for a large proportion of the misery which afflicted humanity. In bands of hope/ temperance societies, : political ' organisation.', and - in private life and practice, he had been associated in one form or other with this "reform during his whole life. Preaching the practice of abstinence from liquor, assisting in Parliament in * the passing of such legislation as was at the time possible to curb the traffic, working hand in hand with those who in later years have, | striven; and with a large measure of success, to obtain c from the people, under a difficult law, such a vote as would " gradually wipe out ;'. the trade, he z stood .1 with J those who ; were demanding ; from Parlia- j ment the recognition of the right of the j people by an equal-value vote to -dead once ,1 and for all with // the great bar *to| the/! nation's health, wealth, and morality. To; assist towards this end was one of the main ' reasons for his again seeking a S seat 'ofn Parliament,. and he had '/ chosen to ask the electors of: Eden to/- send him there t>ecause of the consonance of his views with theirs, upon this all-iknpariant, matter. Would they send him!- ; Would their votes upon * the "liquor ? question coincide I with i their votes for the member,?; He ■ firmly believed ; they- would, i and v that; Eden would/ add one more voice and vote in Parliament to the resolute band of men already there, intent on releasing the throat of the nation from the brutal grip of a debasing and ruinous tyranny.

Missed ■ Ministerial Opportunities. i The government of the country was carried on • under the party system, said Mr. Speight. They -were so circumstanced as to have to ; make the best of it, and evolve, if they could, good legisla- • tion from amid such, unfavourable - condi- • tions, to make * parties '■} form and circle? around principles worth contending ' for. > Drawn into Parliament in 1879 as a member of the great : Greyite party, which stood; for what he ; then believed, ;as he did now, the rights of the whole people as against the domination of a privileged class, which held place, power; and patronage to their own aggrandisement, he : bad never ceased to associate himself with the term Liberalism, nor to. fetm himself anything but a' Liberal. * - The Liberal Ministry and party of -to-day was far. from being immaculate, from being perfect, and ;he thought he did good service :by stating; the opinion largely prevailing >in * the i country, that Minjst*Te bad not v made the best use,of their opportunities. With *S an Opposition feeble in point of numbers' and industry, the present Administration? should nave given to the country more real re- : forms than they had , ventured upon. Some of the proposals he had been ideal-; ing with ; might have been i given-s effect to long ; since. At times one was disposed to think* that there was some : terrible attractive I force ,in ; the -i Treasury bench which ■ did much .! to spoil - statesmen arid often enervated a "Ministry, :; even ■,>, as it; made an Opposition anxious , to | gain -that bench, factious. Give them' a loan, and let them alone, seemed at times to be the - 3 dominant desire Vol,; men long : C". in power.; In, the y formation %of '■>. Ministries also the < most use was not made of the capable men„ who were embraced' within the Liberal party, *' and he inclined to the opinion that unfess "the present. Ministry was much -improved by a" reconstruction and the > introduction -into >it of some men of capacity and progressive 2 leanings, the Liberal party would - soon have to go into the wilderness or ' be ; led '* by f other men. It was a love for the success of Liberalism led him to these r reflections, and the desire to , see the party : stiffened, upon progressive lines induced him to; arjiin desire to enter Parliament. (Applause.) £

Answers to Questions. ; In reply to qnestions the candidate said that he was in sympathy with labour arid with all that went in favour of giving it the fullest percentage possible. He believed ' in arbitration that gave the ; worker and the employer the right of a hearing. He believed that everyone should bear a share in" the defence of the country, and that reciprocity in ;' trade ■'; and j in law should > be aimed at by all the Australasian ! colonies. He was opposed to a Civil Service Board, and he believed that the -majoritViOf Civil servants .were of the same opinion. The totalisator was, in: his opinion, a greater evil thanHhe bookmaker; it attracted men who wouli not go near the bookmaker. Welcomed Back to Public life. - :. Mr. A. E. Freeman proposed, "That this meeting ? of t Eden electors welcomes < • Mr. _

-■■ ,i> Speight back to public life, is in sx^r • with most of his political opinions, jTvty hopes to see him returned as i/.craV l * '] ''■ this constituency.*' ," : Mr. A. J. Malone seconded the c-c-tift", 'l I which was carried amid'enthusiasm,'' ' - . ] THE REFORM PASTY'S PEOSPJC; : J NEVER SO GOOD AS AT PHES^ffii [BY lELEGEAPK.—SPECIiI, COBBBSPOJTBte-o Wellington-, Monday 1 Bulletins regarding the activities c i political candidates, and of the- rtaJHM public: feeling and opinion tbroutrhWtlfo country are pouring in upon the Leada of the Opposition in great numbers. Tb ■ great majority are of cheerful cast in ti«* bearing upon the prospects of the Refcra 4 -— party. " : "I am not, as you know, in the habit of boasting," Mr. Massey remarked today, "but you may take it from me thai our prospects were never so good asC present.% lam quite satisfied that wlyt] ever the number of candidates that ssu'^ be returned, a. majority of votes "'*dfl: 1 4jii§p recorded in our' favour" in the Auckland Wellington, Taranaki, and Otago - pr "j. vincial districts, and we expect to ii.' prove our position very considerably f— ■... Hawke's Bay, Canterbury, and SoulhW In spite of all the slanders and misrsr. '. sentation to which we have been bat jected, the: Reform party is growing |a favour with the people, and conseque in numbers and influence every day. o "I would very strongly advise the electors to see that they are properly enrolls and am quite satisfied that there are Earthousands of people properly qualified t"> electors whose names are not on the ro'i|at present. I want to see clean rolls, wiiij J all the names on them that should bt there, and no names on any roll thaii should not be there." g fi

CAMPAIGN NOTES. .'.'"'Mr. ;W. J. Napier speaks at Whang* paroa on Friday evening next. Sir John Fihdlay will address! the elee« tors ;at ':_', St. Marks Hall, Kemuera, tiig?* evening. A vigorous campaign is being ■ carried Vout by the - various ■; candidates ■ for the Western Maori electorate. ' Mr. J. H. Bradley invites the ladies of •/ Auckland West to meet him at the Leyi ?J- _", Institute on Friday afternoon, at.lhiß»'"''"~ o'clock. Mr. G. Sullivan, president of the Canterbury Trades and Labour Council, wSI probably be the Labour candidate forßic< : )i carton. * ; Mr. J. S. Dickson, a candidate •':■*. sell, emphatically states that he is ■--'.. mined to fight the election to a finish, 2,.' will be a contestant against allcomers. Mr. J. B. Morton, the Liberal candidate for Mannkau, will address the electors of feS Otahuhn -this evening in the Public BalL .V. when Mr. Atkinson will occupy the chair. Mr. John BoJlagd, M.P. for Eden,- invites :> t; his supporters to -meet him at the Osciail J . " Committee ■ Booms, ; corner of Domini a and Valley Bo ads, for the purpose of ejecting ■,;. the executive and general committee. ; ;-X%. '.~S Mr.KC.* K.■.'/; Wilson, : the official candi- ■' date of the Opposition party for the. xnarunui electorate, will speak at Te Kuiti this evening.* Mr. Forbes, another ,can-';5%.\. : : didate of ; the platform, is at present ' lin To '\ Kuiti, i and after Wilson's : ad- ; dress, he will announce'.whether,he '■ will ' So. withdraw or not.

I Mr. J. C. DromgooL a candidate for ! Raglan, has just completed a short tour of the Lower Waikato centres.; Speaking on Saturday evening at WhssgaralSj where Mr. Johns presided over a largelyattended meeting in the public school,'/ /the candidate made 7, strong appeal to' the farming interest, and was accorded a unanimous vote of . thanks and . cosii- ". der.ee. The rival claimants for the Raglan.elk' i torate are beginning to make their appearance in the district (writes our Onewhero correspondent). Mr. Duncan, the Liberal: nominee, paid us a visit last week. .Tie] claims of Onewhero to a light- railway «em/ to be ■ overlooked by ? the Administration, and other districts well served by water carriage put forward claims which ; receive !i consideration. A railway commencing at: Tuakau, and running south through Rag-; lan County, via Onewhero, -should' pay i well, and "would* open up a = 'tTesei^oaf l area of magnificent country. At Shannon on»Saturday, Mr. James Allen, the member for Bruce, addressed;' a meeting in advocacy of the ; Oppositionplatform. The general ■ tenor of his address' was ' that the most notable legislation passed during the Ward; administration had been passed with the aid of the. Opposition party, and was therefore -to/ the credit of Parliament, and.not; solely to the Ward Government. He refuted a statement made in the House recently &sfc J Jr. Hlassey, if Prime Minister, would sell? all Crown lands at the original value, Mat policy in this direction referring only ,to lesse-m-perpetuity lands- . Mr. Allen was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.