THE PUBLIC MEETING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2667, 26 April 1905, Page 27

THE PUBLIC MEETING.

Shortly after 8 o'clock Mr Massey" addressed a meeting of about 200 ladies and gentlemen in the Town Hall. The chair was occupied by Mr E. C. Cutten (Mayor), and seats on the platform were also taken by Mr A. L. Herdman, M.H.R., and Mr J. R. Smith (chairman of the Maniototo County Council).

The Mayor briefly introduced Mr Massey to the meeting.

Mr Massey, who was warmly receivecf, thanked the people of Naseby for the opportunity they -had given him to meet them. Last year he was asked to visit the district, but, having made otheir arrangements, he was unable to comply with the request, though he promised he would visit the district at some future time, and he was there that night to keep the promise. — (Applause.) With regard to the position of the Opposition party, he desired to say that its members were Liberals in the liest sense of the word — genuine Liberals. ' They were anxious to promote the" welfare of the country and the happiness of the people ; they were anxious to prevent the colony being dominated by one man or one set of men ; and they were anxious for honest government and pure administration. — (Applause.) With regard to finance, he wished to say this : certain articles, evidently inspired l , had appeared in a few of the papers with regard to a statement he was supposed to have made about the loan placed on the London market some tim-e ago. From the newspapers he had learned— all the information it was so far possible to obtain on this matte-r had been obtained from the newspapers — that the last million loan, in connection with which there had been a certain amount of mild boasting, was floated at 4- per cent., and that it was a seven years' loan. There was, however, a peculiar condition in connection with it — namely, that at the end of two years any investor could convert his 4- per cent, stock into 3£ per centf. stock at a premium of £3. In other words, if a man invested 100 he would get 4- per cent, pea: annum, and' for the two years he would receive £8. If he converted at the end of two years he would receive £3 of stock by way of premium, making £11 for the two years. Whe-n the loan was floated he said that this arrangement meant a return to the investor of 5g per cent, for each of, the two years. There was no getting away from that. But he had been taken to ta?k for making that statement. It was said that the 3 per cent, should be spread over the whole term of the term of the oloan. But he did not think so, because the 3 pca 1 c-ent. stock ought to be worth par. Even now, when our stocks were lower than they had been for years, our 34 per cents. wea-e quoted at £99 10s, and at the time the loan was floated they were worth £101. One had to remember, too, that theu-e were certain expenses connected with the floating of the loan. Theire wo\xld be 1 per cent, for underwriting, there would be stamp duty, brokerage, and something — he was not able to say how much — in the way of prepaid interest, so that probably the loan would not net more than £97 10s. There might be a difference of opinion as to the price at which the loan should have been floated. For himself, he thought it should have been placed at 3£ per cent. Natal and South Australia had got their loans at a lower rate that New Zealand, but he held that New Zealand ought to' be able to get its money at a lower rate than South Africa or any of the Australian colonies. — (Applause.) He would move for a return at the first opportunity as to the details of the loan, and the people could then judge for themselves as to who was rigpht and who was wrong. Tho speaker went on to refer to the position of the colony's credit in the Home market, and to the policy of the Opposition, both of which subjects he touched upon at length in his Dunedin speech. After touching on the land question, Mr Massey spoke of the expenditure on roads and bridges, which he also alluded to in Dunedin. Mitch of this money was wasted. Not long ago a lady in the* North Island, who bad failed to g«t money for a, road leading to lies* property, had a happy thought : she named the road the Seddon road, and again applied, and n,e<xt session a grant of £300 appeared on, the Estimates for the road. — (Laughter.) Speaking on the High Commissioner Bill, he prophesied that within the next 12 monthes the Premier would Le established m office- in, [London, fli

a salary of £2000, and he challenged the hon. gentleman to deny it. Mr Seddon had often said he would not leave the country so long as his health stood, but he had never said he would not take that position.— ("Hear, hear.") The Premier had been in the north lately, giving promises on all sides — acting on the principle that ono had only to aek to receive a promise. — (Laughter.) He was simply buying votes. He had control of the huge finances of the colony, and in face of the principles of the Corrupt Practice* Act ho was going round the colony attempting this wholesale bribery In the romamder of his sp-eech Mr Massey dealt with matters to which he had referred in his previous addresses, and on concluding his remarks, after speaking for nearly two hours, he was accorded very hearty applause.

The Mayor intimated that Mr Massey was prepared to answer questions. Mr J. R. Smith asked if Mr Massoy was in iavour of introducing the Bible into the public schools. Mr Massey said he could not answer the question with a direct Yes or No. Ho thought it a somewhat strang-e tiling that this was the first time the question had been put to him in a public meeting. He might say it was a question his party had not considered as a body, and when they did consider it he had no doubt there wonld be a difference of opinion. He could only speak for himself, and his own view was this : He believed in the inspiration of tho Scriptures, and if there was only one sect in tho country ho would say it was a proper tiling to have the Scriptures read in the public schools. But there was quite a. number of sects,- and by placing tho Bible in the publio schools of the country as a text-book they might be introducing sectarian differences and bitternesses, which the colony had not heard much of for some time past. If anyone could convince him that by introducing the Bible into the public schools and making it a text -book or a reading-book they would not raise sectarian differences, then he would not object. If, on the other hand, they were likely to raise sectarian differences by the introduction of the Bible, they were better with the present system. It had been suggested that the question should be referred to the people by way of a referendum, and 'He would have no objection to that ; but the manner in which the question was put to the people would have to be carefully considered. It would never do to put the crude and elastic proposal, "Are you in favour of Biblereading in schools?" It might be put in this way: "Are you in favour of the present secular system of education being continued?" or, "Are you in favour of Parliament legislating with the object of providing for Bible-reading in schools?" Ifc might bo possible that Parliament would be< able to arrange matters tn such a#way that extracts from the Bible oould be read without causing trouble. If all the churches would combine and say, "We are in favour of having suitable extracts from the Scriptures lead in the public schools of the colony," he was with them. If not, he thought they had better leave it alone. — (Applause.)

An Elector : Are you aware, Mr Massey, that the churches have agreed? Mr Massey: What about the Roman Catholic Church?

The Elector: The Protestant churches Have agreed. In reply to Mr John Law, jun., Mr Massey said that if he got the reins of powe-r into his hands he would not abolish the leasehold system in its entirety, but would make the lease-hold the stepping-stone to the freehold. He would provide leasehold and freehold tenures, and give a man the option of taking up land under either tenure. He would give the option of the freehold to every man who took up rural land under the Crown. Of course there were details to be arranged: he was speaking of the principle. In reply to another elector, Mr Massey said if a man was not satisfied with the decision of the Land Board h© could appeal to the Supreme Court. There was certainly such an appeal either from the Land Board or the Minister in the case of a man whose section had been forfeited unjustly. There ought to be an appeal to the Supreme Court in every case. Mr R. Scott (Kyeburn) moved a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Massey for his address. Mr James Brown (Naseby) seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Mr Mas&ey returned thanks, and the usual compliment to the chair closed ih© meeting.

On Friday morning Mr Massey left Naseby for Dunedin, being farewelled by a number of the leading residents of the town, who pave three hearty cheers for " the Leader of the Opposition " as the brake moved oft.