PRE-SESSIONAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2671, 24 May 1905, Page 34

PRE-SESSIONAL.

MR J. ALLEN AT KAITANGATA.

Mr James Allen, M.H.R,. for Bruce, addressed a meeting of his constituents at Kaitangata on Wednesday night, the Mayor (Mr G. E. Yates) presiding. Mr Allen, who was well received, went over a number of matters he had dealt with Mis the previous evening at Milton. Speaking oa the relation of labour- and education. he said thai the well-known economic laws could not be ignored, and that an artificial raising of the wages of any m<an, unless accompanied by a better quality of product or a greater quantity in the same time, would in all probability in the long run do no good to the workman, but very likely injury. The effects of artificially raising the wage" could only be jvidged by taking a- balance at the end of the year and finding out from that how the individual 'actually stood. If the high wage had increased the price of the prodaet it made jfche- cost o£ livingT dearer to everybody. The"xesolt might- be, and very likely would be, that, instead, of good being^ done, an. injury might follow. It must rest with the workmen themselves to judge -whether their position was better at the end of a year than .-it was _some time before. If it -were l>etter it could only be ascribed either to )their .having put out a better product or a (greater quantity in a given, time. _ He idesired ■to impress upon- his constituents (that there' was -an. economical- and safe way Ito increase the .earning power of every working mart or woman in- the community, and be proposed to show , them that way. In the first place ifc was necessary thaff the environment of the children should be such that they- should grow up in kealthy surroundings, both moral and physical, and .become -eventually strong in body and in ■nriTTt.fl, and. then, it was necessary that, when jfchey came to working age, the environment "should be such that they worked under the best possible conditions. These two 'things meant healthy surroundings during jfcheir growth, and good food and fresh iair, and when they were- at work wellventilated rooms and healthy places to work an. '' But that -was not sufficient. The one other thing requisite was that, having the tiealthy mind and body, the training of the fcrain and the eye and the hand and of, everything that was to be used in work ■was the best that ettuld possibly be obtained;! -and he had always advocated, and Btitt didj? and always would advocate, the very Jbest -conditions- with regard to education, and especially technical education, being placed at the disposal of everyone in. the community. EEc had • been ttpon the 1 Education Committee for two or'three years now, and it could. - never- be said by anybody ichat he had not done all he' possibly could on- that committee "to better "the facilities for' every -person in the community to obtain, more thorough' technical training:' <They had 7in Kaitangata a technical school. jWKat -use -were they making of it? Perhaps it was not their,, fauli- that they were not .-making use of it. Proper provision: had not been, made ifor the. teaching of technical education. Hie- was of opinion, that we ought to secure the -Very best man who could ,be. got for money,, even, if we had to'apay" Mm £1500 a. year, to come and organise our technical education. Jh badly .-wanted organisation. No • doubt those in authority --were*- doing the . besfc they could, fcut it-wanted knowledge and experience of other places to enable us -to put the- matteron- a proper footing. Were "-this done noHoubt Kaitangata. -would have proper facrtiiies for teaching- things technical in its school, apd the young miner -would have opportunities jfco improve his knowledge to such art «adent that he probably^would be able to put out much' greater quantity pf large coal than he could now, _or at anyYate he would h& able in. a given time. and. without., greater strain uponJrinaself, to put «ut the*, larger quantity. Could he do that, then he - would- put himself in the position o£ earning -the - greater wage, and .he would be rightly and. justly entitled to it. mad no one', in fee eommunrfcy -Trould •be the - loser, but rather -tfaegaeineri he -would be producing- at * xater which caused no increase in price to the consumer though he (the producer) was getting aaorevfor it. "Be (Me Allen) wanted ia impress upon every one of his eonstitnen±s the -great value of making; use. of ±he- means of technical training, - and he still farther wanted to impress upon them the. necessity for self-improvement and for ambition. The •desire' -to improve -*a xnajtV position"' was. a- proper -and; -a .-natural desire,- and, stimulated him tp^give the best that, he eattJd to the - community in which, lie -dwelt r and- as -every -community had 'to compete ;-wifh" another it -~was~ necessary we ehauM ,-iostei here - ambition amongst -our workers^- and: that -we -should -place them In «"p©sitiany.by-exeellfinfc environment and by ' thoroug-h training-, to compete -successfully with the outside worlds whilst they at foe- same- time we«e- earning the highest of rages.

la answer to a question, Mr Allen said Ac was absolutely opposed to theological teaching in- the schools, but he was in favour of selections, such as had been, agreed %o by the conference in Wellington, being read in the public schools. Asked ** If tfeese things were introduced into the school* woold Hot the curxicnluim, which is~ already OTseierowded. bs- still - worse?" Mr Allen, said he had. that morning bsezt to a. school and heard the children reading selections from Bulien's " Cruise of the Cachelot/' and he ihought they might ivkst as tveß have been reading: instead of that the Sermon, on tbe- Mount.

Asked what ho thought about the procedure to get to the Arbitration. Court, Mr -Alien eaid_ it ought to be made as simple as possible, securing only that opportunity should be given to the unions, whether of workers or of employers, to End out the- actual opinion of the individual Ecembers.

A vote of thanks to Mr Allen was moved and A. vote of thanks and confidence was also moved and seconded, and this, on being pu§, was carried wiihoTit dissent.

ME- D. REID, M.H.R., AT MOSGIEL.

Mr Donald Reid, jun., M.H.R.,' addressed his-eonsStuerits at the "Volunteer Hall. Mos£iel, last evening, Mr T. Aitken (Mayor of Mosgiel) presiding. Mr Reid's address differed little from that delivered by him at Middlemareh. and preriously reported. He commented strongly sn the harm done by a mass of legislation t>eing submitted every session to Parliament such as could not possibly be overtaken, so that such legislation as was )ffected suffered considerably. Fewer bills. "awl £uese more carefully considered, should

be the order of things. Last session 180 bills were submitted, of which 174 were public bills and six private. The Government carried 54 of its bills and dropped no less than 33, and had the time spent on these last been occupied with those that wore passed there would probably have been less trouble to-day over, for instance, the Shops and Offices Act and other acts, involving a good deal of research on the part of the lawyers of the colony. Again, of the 19 local bills that had to be dropped, many were of the utmost importance to the locality concerned, but no opportunity was given of having these bills brought before the House. Referring to the legislation of last session, he said the Land Drainage Act had an important bearing in the Taieri district (especially in West Taieri), in view of the number of drainage boards in the district, and he hoped to see it taken advantage of, and an amalgamation of the different boards, which would', he thought, be a great advantage to the West Taieri district. A Suggestion made by a member last session in regard to the election of members of land boards he regarded as eminently practical — namely, that County Councils, which were elected by the ratepayers, and knew the wants of their district, should nominate members for land boards. In respect t<> legislation needed, the speaker said that in his opinion a new statute dealing with local government would bo one of the most beneficial reforms that Parliament could turn its attention to. The County Councils needed more assured i&nance, and a resolution passed at the recent conference urging that grants once authorised should not be cancelled within six months at least, was a perfectly reasonable contention. In regard to desirable legislation in respect to education, he emphasised that it was not in the best interests of education that it should be administered from Wellington. In criticising ths working of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, Mr Reid remarked that New Zealand was evidently looked upon as the Mecca for the Australian labourer, and there had been a very large influx of labourers from the other side, and a largo percentage of the increased immigration of the last four years would be found to belong to the labouring classes. He concluded his remarks on the finances of the colony by stating that it was very clear that they would have to face in the future a time of curtailment of expenditure. That the Opposition party would go to Parliament much stronger next session he had little doubt. Mr Reid received an excellent hearing from, a large audience, his remarks being frequently .applauded. At the conclusion of his address, on the motion of Mr Charters, seconded by Mr Gibson, he was accorded a hearfrv vote of thanks, not being called upon to ai*wer any questions. In replying, Mr Reid said his intention t was to come before them again and seek their support next November.