KAIPARA SEAT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15770, 19 November 1914, Page 4

KAIPARA SEAT.

SPEECH BY MR. COATES.

[BY TELEGRAPH. OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Dargaville, Wednesday.

Mr. Gordon Coates, member for Kaipara, addressed a meeting of over 700 electors in the Royal Theatre last evening. The Mayor, Mr. J. A. McLean, presided. The candidate was enthusiastically received. Mr. Coates fully explained his action in voting gainst the Mackenzie Government, as he was pledged to a freehold tenure, the settlement of native lands, a Civil Service Board, and the provision of means whereby gumdiggers could acquire homes for themselves, and for these measures no provision had been made by the Mackenzie Party. He asserted thai by the first ballot votes of the last general election, Mr. Masscy had a majority of 26,000 over Sir Joseph Ward. Referring to finance he stated that tha Ward Ministry had spent £997,000 more during its last term of office than had the Reform Party in its first, and that the present Administration had in no single instance increased taxation on any one necessary article of life, whilst the Customs tax per head was now even less than when Mr. Massey assumed the reins of office. Under the present Government the graduated land tax had risen from 12s 8d to 15s Id and the income tax had risen' from 8s lOd t-u 10s 3d. Moreover, the value at which the former tax became operative had been lowered from £40,000 to £30,000 and a further reduction of £20,000 was promised, which was a sure way to closer settlement.

During last year native lands aggregating 83,619 acres had been purchased at a cost of £217,000 and lands for settlement acquired by the Reform Party had increased out of all comparison with the figures of the Ward Administration. With regard to loans, in the last 2£ years of bis Administration, Sir Joseph Ward had borrowed £10,031,000, whilst in its first 2£ years the Reform Government had borrowed £953,000 less and spent considerably more on public works than did its predecessors. The present Administration had increased the salaries of male school-teachers by 52 per cent, and those of females by per cent. Many improvements had been effected in the pensions, workers' dwellings, rural homes, workers' compensation, timber-workers', and agricultural workers' laws and regulations. On his own representation he had succeeded in raising the wages of railway workers in the North Island from 10s to lis per day. The speaker defended Mr. Massey's naval polity, and denied that Mr. Allen, was responsible for the breaking of Sir Joseph Ward's 1909 agreement with the Admiralty. He showed that Mr. Massev had offered to raise the subsidv from £100,000 to £150,000 per annum" if that agreement were carried out. The Reform Party was not attempting to mn.ke political capital out of the naval question, and Dominion exporters and importers would never object to pay any tax necessary to keep the trade routes open. Citing some of the results of his legislative endeavours to benefit Kaipara electors in particular, Mr. Coates mentioned the separation of the Kaipara and Marsden hospital districts, the authorisation of the- railway line from Kaihu to Donnelly's crossing, the lifting of the reservation 'on. the Waipoua State Forest, the Government's decision to erect a State sawmill in connection with the latter, the securing of a grant for starting railway formation from Kirikopuni southwards, the placing of much-needed lights in the Kaipara Estuary, the furtherance of Government aid on the main roads, the institution of the express train from Kaipara to Auckland, the securing of a bird sanctuary at Pouto, and the provision for a totalisator permit for the next Dargaville race meeting. During the course of his remarks, Mr. Coates was frequently applauded, and a.t the close of the address an enthusiastic vote of thanks and confidence was carried.