THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18247, 14 November 1922, Page 9

THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

OPPOSITION LEADER. SPEECH AT TOWN HALL. POLICY OF LIBERAL PARTY; CRITICISM OF GOVERNMENT. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. T. M. Wilford, addressed a very large audience in the Town Hall last evening, and was accorded a most enthusiastic reception. He spoke for two and a-quarter hours, his remarks consisting principally of criticism of tho Government's "policy, unci at the close a vote of thanks and confidence in his party was carried by nn overwhelming majority. < The Mayor, Mr. J- H. Gunson, presided, and tao Opposition candidates for various stats in the district were seated on the platform. In his opening remarks Mr. Wilford paid that in his 29 years' experience he had not had an opportunity of ppeaking to an Auckland audience on political matters. He was not going to deal in personalities, even if he did hit the members of the present Ministry hard. Relation to Sir Joseph Ward. In a campaign such as the present every move wjis a fair thing, he supposed, but he wished to refer to what the "Reform Bible," the New Zealand Herald, railed his attitude to his old chief, who put him in the National Cabinet, Sir Joseph Ward. (Applause.) They had been comrades lor more than 20 years, had fought many t battles together, and it was monstrous that the cry of "Back to Seddon" should bring the suggestion that he was going back on his former leader. Why, in Wellington only last Tuesday, just before leaving for Auckland, ho spent two hours with him, and he was glad to tell the audience that Sir Joseph Ward's health was much improved. (Applause.) He recognised thai. Sir Joseph waa a man who would be of immense value to the country on financial matters if only he could see his wav to stand, and he hoped that even if he did not stand, he would bo able to give a criticism of what was called Reform finance. (Laughter and applause.) Sir Joseph was a great statesman and a great financier, and of his Imperial feel.-. insrs there could be no question. \ Continuing, the speaker said the Liberal-Labour Party had, during the past two vears, had to fight the newspapers. They had been in the position of finding that Mr. Massey and Mr. Holland were acting in combination to oust the Liberals. Liberalism was almost a faith, and refused to recognise class. It was inclusive and hot exclusive. It embraced all kinds of people. The Electoral Question. Tne speaker dealt with the action of 'She Government in repealing the second ballot,* and said that the promise to substitute something else had not been carried out, and never would be. He was a minority representative, and the people of his electorate knew that . with the present iniquitous system no candidate could secure an absolute majority. The Reform Party, he said, stood for r.o reform, the Labour Party stood for proportional representation, and the Liberal-Labour Party stood for proportional representation, and if they could not get that they hoped to get the neces- j 6arv electoral reform by peferential voting, j The Liberals had to tight the Reform Party, but there was no policy to fight. ! He referred to the polity put out by Air. j Massey in 1911. but contended that the I promises then made had not been carried I cult, and quoted Sir William Herries as | saying that the manifesto by getting the j pirty into power "had done the trick." j In' his great epoch-making speech of i July, 1911, Mr. Massey said another matter that called for attention was that j no one knew what the £5,000,000 loan j cost. "Why this secrecy?" he had asked, j • It is bound to cause suspicion." Now. Mr Massey announced last week that ho was offered first £500,000 and then £1.000.000 on short-dated loan at a rate that was confidential. (Laughter.) We had to pay fthe rate, and we had every riebt to k'now what it was. Yet Mr. Massey said: "Why this secrecy? It is baund to caure suspicion." (Laughter.) Legislative Council Appointments. Mr. Massey also said in his spoech that no country ever prospered with increased taxation, and it was time they had a party that would make the burden of taxation lighter. (Laughter.) He spoke, too, of the appointments to the Legislative Council, and said appointment for a term of seven vears was unsatisfactory because although a member might be independent at first he lost his independence after two or three years, and became a subservient supporter of the Government in power. "1 make no comment," Mr. Wilford isaid, "I leave that to you." Mr. Massey had said he would replace the mode of appointing Legislative Councillors, with a system of election on the lin»s of that for the House of Representaiives. They did not want men who could buy the position or could put £10,000 or £20,000 in a newspaper. 'TiaTO you ever read the list of shareholders of the Dominion?" Mr. Wilford said. "I have it here if you would like to see it." (Laughter and applause.) Borrowing Policy Criticised. In 1912, said Mr. Wilford, the national debt was £84,353,913. The cost of the war was £81,843,543. The money borrowed by the Reform Party for purposes other than war was £52,866,000. They also borrowed from the Consolidated Fund £14,000,000, so that under the Reform Partv tho money borrowed for other than the "cost of the war totalled Over £57,000,000. In his speech accompanying the 1911 manifesto, Mr. Massey had said that no money should be borrowed from the Conf lidated Fund, and he had bonowed from that fund £14,439,000. Just the other dav, said Mr. Wilford, the Prime Minister "had said he hoped that borrowing would continue for another tire years, and he had recently borrowed one million poinds in a short-dated loan. The objective of the Reform Party and the Labour Partv was to get rid of tho Liberal Party. We say absolutely that , it would be a bad tiling for tho country I if the Liberal Party was ever pushed out | of existence said Mr. Wilford. It was . the partv whhh made the country in the J past and could make it in the future. I Thev said that the' Reform and Labour I Parties had -rasped hands and combined to set them out if possible. : A Yoke : That is a lie. ! "I will prove," said Mr. Wilford, "that ! the Reform rait is waterlogged and hardly tit after the elections to carry away the , castaways who have to get away on it. j Tazation and Expenditure. J The Leader of the Liberal Party referred to the report of the "taxation Committee, and sa r d that unless company taction was reduced to ss, as sug-/es-.ed by the co-r.mittee. or some amount fixed bv financial advisers, there was trouble \orning. He again referred u> the 1911 policy, in which it was promised that there would be no extravagance in expenditure and an end would he put to waste, and said that as yet there was no real attempt to reduce ex penditure and stop waste. When he left the Xafonal Cabinet with his old chief on An ust 2. 1919, there was a surplus of £15 o'o.ooo in the Treasury. All of this had not cone, as some of it was in soldiers' land." (Lauahtev.) Th» bright, brilliant idea of the Prime Minister to get hark the 4J per cent, free of income tax debentures was not going to . have the desired effect. The speak or said he had heard it said that the taking of monev for these debentures was an immoral" transaction hut in his opinion it whs nothing of the kind, for it was . done to make people with money place it at the disposal of the Government. How_ f>Ver. any man who had £5000 worth of

£X J 1015611 * 111 * 8 ' an * nothing eke, would have no income tax to pay To that if he exchanged them for 4 Sock the country would merely pay him a «v«* !i i H ® dld not expect, howwh ,? iS y 4i°? I !? Ny » ownin « £ic °.ooo H n £r^ oe Handed in somewhere el*e As showing that expenditure was not Wilford sa.d the Pri me Minister this year prepared a budget for very litK Wow that of last yTar, and therewas not the revenue to meet it. In 1913 the year after Mr. Massev font «m JuT rasa*""? fS"«tt the war, it was £18,673.599. In 1919 thl It a^^^ 1 Cabinet, SHWSkT wT ?*, p-d t when thJ? Fu -? en h ° ] ? ft Jt - A »*r 1913. when the thrift campaign of the Reform Party commenced, the expenditure for 10:20 jumped to £28.068,000 'economv l^' ith *" # e talk of thr '" nn.l economy, the expenditure was £28,466.0-70 of £26 E- estimat * d revenue oi and this was election year. Advances to Settlers Department. Rf?»!S °n th i e measures on tho Shin/ «L C fe med Credit > ™ s that ust^bnw S n Adva " ccs to Settlers Deputi2. 1* *£* underst r d that all mounw i repaid by borrowers should bo lent o;<t again to settlers and workers. It was ! found, however, that Mr. Massey nad j taken out of the department in various : sums £2,139,000. not Tor' settlers or work- , ers. but for investment in Government securities, and at a time when worken and settlers were crying out for money. He | held a letter from Mr. Massey in which h« | Prime Minister called them temporary advances from the department, but said the amount 'nad been considerably reduced. Trusts and Combines Alleged. A great many trusts and combines, mis- ' caded associations, were beginning to take their toll of this country. He did not object to any combination of firms if they i were not exploiting the public, but When : it saw trusts and combines creeping in to profiteer at the people's expense the Liberal Party said a tribunal of investigation on the lines of the Commission on Trusts in Great Britain, in 1919, should be instituted. The first thing that should be done with profiteers was to abolish the fines and make it imprisonment, and then the "cat." (Laughter.) The question . had to be tackled. The Liberal Party | claimed that there should be a judicial inquiry into the trusts or associations that controlled petrol, banking, cement, tobacco, woollen goods, etc., in this country. (Applause.) State and Agricultural Banks. The Liberal Party stood for a State bank and an agricultural bank as well. The president of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, Mr. W. J. Poison, had characterised the proposal for rural credit associations as farcical and an insult to the intelligence of the executive of the Farmers' Union. All round the country the small farmers were waking up to the fact that the Massey Party was not turning out the friend of the farmer they had expected, it to be. They recognised that its administration of the benefits of the , Liberal Party was that of a foster-father ' and not the real father. (Laughter.) The old Liberal-Labour Party drove the piles I of the success and prosperity of this coun- ' try. (Applause.) It planted the Liberal i trees from which the Reform Partv ; plucked some of the fruits, but not all. j Something had to be done to help the j farmers. They needed experimental farms , such as the model dairy farm at Stratj ford, where the average production of ' butter-fat was increased from 1651b. to I 4021b. a cow. I At this stace there were some intersections, and Mr. Wilford said: "Just a j moment. I can give you information; I [cannot give you understanding." (LaughIter.) I On the subject of shipping the speaker i said £4,000,000 more was paid in freights i inward and outward in 1921 than in 1914. I The Liberal Party considered all the proj ducers, exporters, importers, and the Government should get together and formulate a scheme to carry produce to the markets jof the world. Regarding roads, ibe Main Highways Itill simply gave the Government . power to appoint men to travel round the country and report as to what should be primarv roads and what- should be secondary. Probably in a year's time we would bear that the road from Auckland to Rotorua was a primary road. (Laughter.) The Railway Service. Dealing with railways, Mr. Wilford said the board set up by the Prime Minister was not a joke, it was a tragedy. (Laughter.) On August 15 Mr. Massey said he estimated the revenue from the railways would be £516,000 more than for the Ereviouß year. Unfortunately, four days iter the department issued its accounts for the period from April 1 to August 19, and the receipts were £167,796 less than in the corresDondincr period of the E receding year. Mr. Wilford said that e did not know whether the present state of the service was due to the Government's dislike for State services or to the incompetency in the Ministry There were two questions he wanted the Reform newspapers to answer. The first.was that, seeing the railways ran 586,127 mfies less this year than last year and 1410 more men were employed, and that expenditure had increased by £801.126, where does the economy arid thrift come in ? The second question was: How does it come about that the expenditure increased by £801,126 when the extraordinary increases have taken place, in passengers, season tickets, and goods tonnage? Where )ia3 the loss come about, and whv have the railwavs lost nearly £1,000,000, when in 1918 the passengers carried were 12,160.000 and in 1922 they were 14.26 9 .000, and the prices had gone up? In 1920 the season tickets numbered 400,621. and in 1922. 472,865. The goods jumped from 5.596.232 tons-to 5,931.112 'tons, and the Government talked of economy, thrift, and readjustment, and we found this great loss notwithstanding these huge increases in passengers carried, season tickets issued, and goods trucked, and freight and passenger fares. The reason was plain: The Ministry was incompetent, as he would presently show. Soldiers 1&d the Land. On the question of soldiers' land Mr. Wilford (Hid the Liberal-Labour Party held that the Government should find out , how much it had lost on the purchase of ! these lands and wipe it out. The arrears iof rent could not be paid and it should be struck off, in order to give the soldiers a chance. The ' speaker explained the Liberal Party's attitude on- the question of the Civil' seryicc cut, when they fought against j any reduction of salaries below £320. I A Voice: How did you vote on tho ! Civil service petition in the House last month? Mr Wilford : Do you mean the question of joining the Alliance of Labour? | The Voice s Yes. Mr Wilford : I voted against it, and 1 ! would do so again if |I bad the chance. In conclusion, Mr. Wilford read extracts from Mr. Seddcn's manifesto of 1905. and c-iid that to him they were words which rang so trulv and would ring truly as lone as New Zealand existed. The LiberalLabour Party stood for law and order, for the flag, for the Empire and for the K ; ng and yielded to no party in loyalty in love of country, and in patriotism and in the desire to benefit and help thenfellow being?. Mr Wilford was loudly applauded as he* resumed his seat, \ resolution of thanks to Mr. Wilford for hi* address, confidence m the LiberalTibour Partv, and an affirmation that the time had come for a change was proposed by Mr F S Morton, Opposition candidate for Eden, seconded by Mr. F. H. Burbush. Opposition candidate for Wattemata,' and was declared earned by a verv large majority. In returning thanks Mr. Wilford said he had just received the following telegram from Taranaki :-" Mr Massey lost his grip on Stratford. Ihe Liberal-Labour Party will win the whole of the seats here."" (Applause.)