“REFORM” ASSAILED

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8736, 19 May 1914, Page 8

“REFORM” ASSAILED

IVIR WITTY AT CHRISTCHURCH EXPOSURE OF GOVERNMENT’S CLAIMS. The member of Parliament for Riccarton, Mr George ‘Witty, addressed a meeting of his constituents at Papanui last Thursday evening. There was an exceptionally large attendance, and Mr I>. Bunting presided. The following report of the meeting is taken from the “Lyttelton Times ; Mr Witty said that this was the first occasion on which he had met his Papanui constituents in the role of an Oppositionist. Ho and the other members of the Liberal party were not in Deposition because they had lost the confidence of the people, for they were returned at last ■’election with a majority of 108,000 votes. They were in Opposition because certain members of the* party were false to their election pledges. Some of those who took a leading part in putting Mr Mackenzie at the head of the Ministry took an equally prominent part in putting him out of office. A voice; “They were rats.”

Continuing, Mr Witty said that a peculiar thing about Mr Mackenzie's acceptance of the High Commissionership was that instead of resigning his seat on July 31st, when he accepted the position, he held it till August 23rd, by which time a member of the “Reform” party was able to get back from America to contest the scat Mr Mackenzie was vacating. AT THE PEOPLE’S EXPENSE.

The speaker went on to compare the annual expenditures of the Liberal and “Reform” Administrations, and reminded his hearers that the “Reform” party, which was now making promises of expenditure on a scale hitherto unparalleled in New Zealamd’s history, had actually got into office in part on die strength, of a promise that it would be economical. Mr Massey had said that he had given 20,000 people the right to acquire the freehold. That was all buncombe. In 1907 the Liberal Administration gavo Crown tenants an opportunity to purchase at the then valuation, but very little advantage was taken of the offer. What, Mr Massey had done was to offer the tenants the land they occupied at the original valuation—in other words, he made them a present of the increase in value, at the expense of the rest of the people of New eZaland. THE SECOND BALLOT STONEWALL. The Second Ballot Repeal Bill was sneaked into the Lower House by way of the Legislative Council. When the Liberals discovered that Mr Massey had not the slightest intention of fulfilling his promise to provide something more effective in place of the second ballot, they started to stonewall, but the “Reform” Speaker and the “Reform”' Chairman of Committees introduced a method of gagging the speakers. It was ridiculous to state that the Liberals were at that juncture afraid of a dissolution. The only party that feared a dissolution was the “Reform” party, which would never go to the country so long as it could stop in office without sudb a test. THE STRIKE.

The responsibility for the prolongation of tile recent strike rested entirely upon Mr Massey. Sir Joseph Ward had made valuable suggestions to end the trouble, but they were ignored. Now the Massey party were accusing Sir Joseph Ward of having fomented the strike, of having aided and abetted the “Hod Feds,” and of having allied himself with the forces of anarchy, violence, and lawlessness. The accusation, under the circumstances, was quite characteristically impudent. Mr Witty quoted from the speech of Mr W. Nosworthy, M.P., at Ashburton, to illustrate the nature of “ Reform ” accusations, and read several extracts from “ Hansard” to show the part Sir Joseph Ward had really played in reference to the strike. TAXATION REDUCED.

The Massey party' had promised to reduce taxation, and they had done it. They had reduced taxation to the unfortunate man who possessed £30,000 worth of unimproved land, but up to date they had overlooked the common people. The “Reformers” had also promised to reduce borrowing. They based their condemnation of the Liberals on the assumption that borrowing was being conducted in an extravagant and quite unnecessary manner. Up to the present time the rate of borrowing had not been reduced. In fact, it had been considerably increased, so that the condemnation by virtue of which the “ Reformers ” sought office was shown to be groundless. The “ Reformers ” affected to believe that the Liberals were intriguing with or allied with the “ Red Feds.” That was a delightful suggestion to come from a party that wholeheartedly cast its votes in favour of the “Red Fed ” candidate in order to oust a Liberal. That was the way Mr Robertson got elected. BROKEN PROMISES.

A strong point with the “Reformers” before the last election was the iniquity of public (patronage. Since then New Zealand had heard of the Royd G-aflick case, and of the way in. which land boards a-ppomtments were engineered, and had seen a Board of Agriculture, composed entirely of wealthy squatters, set up. In the matter of' Customs taxation, the Massey party promised to effect big reductions for the benefit of the worker. They had made reductions to the extent of about £300,000 per annum, hut that reduction benefited the pockets of merchant importers, and of no one else. It was a pet superstition of the Massev party that it had done something entirely ’ unprecedented in publishing details of the cost of the flotation of loans. As a matter of fact, those details wore always available, and there was no occasion for the “Reformers” to assume the credit for a virtue they had borrowed from their opponents. Another pre-election theory of “Reform” orators was that the Massey party had a burning desire to settle tho people on the land. That desire had evidently been rigorously restrained ever since the party took office, and yet there was every necessity for prompt action if the Government really desired to find land for people to settle on. POPULAR AFFECTION.

Another obsession that the Government newspapers professed to be labouring under was that the people of this country were positively frantic in thoir affection for the present Ministry Despite this pretence, members of' the Ministry still found it_ necessary to admit audiences to their pub-

lie meeting by a side-door at an early hour, and to keep on hand a strong nosso of police to eject inicriectors. In their own constituencies, most ol .the Ministers were so unpopular that they were scared to address their constituents. The speaker could not see a single policeman in his audience, but it took one hundred and twenty of them to get Mr Herdman a bearing recently.

Dealing with the -Maori land question, Mr Witty said the Massey policy seemed calculated to drive the Maori off the face of the earth. Seventy or eighty years ago the Maoris owned the whole of New Zealand. To-day they had barely enough land to live on. The Maoris had never had a fair deal from any Government, but to the Massey Government belonged the doubtful distinction of having given them the worst deal of all. As an illustration of the airy way in which Mr Massey had backed out of his pre-election pledges, Mr Witty instanced the reply he received from the Prime Minister when he asked when the mortgage tar was to be repealed- “ You know as w°!l as 1 do,” said Mr Massey, “ that we need the money, and we can’t do it. The present Government had never looked with a friendly eye on the State Fire Insurance Department. It had too many friends in the insurance business. The party opposed the establishment of the department, and now that it was in power it had repealed the regulation requiring persons borrowing money from the State to insure with the State Department. “PICKINGS.”

One of the fabrications used in the course of the “Reform” party’s pre-election attack on Sir Joseph Ward was the allegation that that gentleman was making several thousands of pounds in the way of “pickings” out of the flotation of each New Zealand loan. Everyone naturally expected that a “Reform” Administration, 'without such peculative habits, ■would float loans at an exceptionally cheap rate. Unfortunately for the “Reformers,” they now had to admit that they had to pay just- as much as anybody else had had to pay. The “pickings” were proved to bo imaginary, but there were no apologies forthcoming. The “Reformers” got terribly angry if they were accused of being rather solicitons on behalf of the big financial interests of tbe country. Yet it was an undoubted fact that by lending a million and a half less per annum than the Liberals did to settlers, workers and others, the Massey Government had sent .the would-be borrowers to the private financier, and the money had been lent at a higher rate of interest than if the State had lent it. THANKS AND CONFIDENCE. After the speaker had answered a few questions, a motion expressing thanks to Mr Witty, confidence in him as member for the district, and confidence in the Liberal party under the leadership ot Sir Joseph Ward, was moved by Mr Walter Wray. It was seconded by Mr P. McCoy, and declared carried unanimously, amidst acclamation. . " Mr Witty received an entirely appreciative and friendly hearing, and was frequently applauded. Cheers were given for him at the clos© of the meeting. ■