THE HON. J. ALLEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3168, 2 December 1914, Page 81

THE HON. J. ALLEN.

SPEECH AT WAIKOUAITI. (Fbom Oub Special Repoetees.) WAIKOUAITL November 24. The Hon. J. Allen delivered a political address at VVaikouaiti this evening. The Mayor (Mr G. J. L. Kerr) occupied the chair, and there was a large attendance. In introducing Mr Allen, the Mayor said it was some 27 years since they had been addressed by a Minister of the Crown.. Mr Allen, who was received with applause, first of all made a brief reference lo the question of industrial unrest. Prior to the present Government entering office a large number of strikes had taken place. In 1910 there were 13 strikes, m 1911-12 there were 21, and when the Government came into office there were three in progress —the Waihf and Reefton miners, and the slaughtermen. One of the planks of the present Government had been to bring about social tranquillity, and to lessen tho present social evils and conflicts between one class of the community and another. The great maritime strike had occurred later on, and in the resulting conflict between law and disorder it was the duty of the Government to maintain law. — (“Hear, hear.”) During that, strike irresponsible men, led by irresponsible leaders, had set themselves against constituted order, and the Government was bound to quell the mob rule that threatened to obtain. Ho alluded to this matter because he wished to point out that these same leaders- had to-day allied forces with Sir Joseph Ward and the Liberal Party in order to punish Mr Massey for the action he took at the time of that strike, but their object would be defeated. —(Applause.) It would be a very dangerous thing if the actions of the Liberal leaders were to bo directed by a few Labour members, and it would be infinitely better to have in power a Government that was free to pursue its own policy, and that could be trusted not to fail in its duty at a time of trial. Mr Allen stated that the Advances to Settlers’ Fund had been run for electioneering purposes, and that advances to settlers had been cut down to £SOO, and no mention made of the fact till after the election. Sir Joseph Ward had left the Advances Department in a thoroughly unsound position, and had Mr Myers not floated his loan the commitments could not have been' met. Mr Allen dealt with Ministerial travelling expenses, and said he would put them on record. Taking a general average of the Seddon regime over a period of seven years, they found that travelling expenses and allowances ran into £2568 per annum. Sir J. G. Ward, during his six years in office, required £2846 per annum, and the Mackenzie regime spent £1446 for travelling expenses and allowances during its short term of office—equal to £SOOO per annum. Tho Massey Government’s figures ran out as follows: —From July 10, 1912, to March 31, 1913 —eight months and 21 days ■ —£llso ; the full year ended March 31, 1914, £2l47.—(Applause.) He quoted these little figures, as from little things like these they could see the trend of things. The speaker referred to the different manner in which the money from sales of land had been dealt with by the Liberal Party and the Massey Government. Referring to the alteration made in the law with regard to some of the leaseholds, he said it was true that this alteration affected the Omarama. It was never thought, however, that certain of those interested in tho leasehold at Omarama were not living in the country. But in the administration of this law Mr Massey made it perfectly clear that no person living out of the dominion would bo allowed to take up a run. Everyone knew that a very great alteration had been made in the Education Department during the last two years. When the Government came into office some of the teachers were paid a salary as low as £9O per annum. The first year he (the speaker) came into office the minimum salary was raised to £IOO, and last year it was increased to £llO, and no teacher, uncertificated or not, who came into the service of the country was paid less than £llO. Furthermore, nearly every teacher’s salary had been increased during the past two years. The increases had been advanced from £5 to £lO per year, so that the maximum salaries were reached in half the time. The grading had been altered in the interests of the teachers, and tho staffing of the schools was to be improved. The door had also been opened still wider, and practically free education had been given right from the primary schools to tho university.—Applause.) When he came into office he found that the bursaries and scholarships were governed by regulations. They were now governed by law, and they could not be taken away except by tho will of Parliament. More bursaries had been provided for those who wanted university education, and especially for the girls of the dominion who desired to take a course of homo science and art. Already from this branch of tho university education they had sent out teachers with degrees, and there was a very large demand for them. Provision had been made by those bursaries to give free education from tho secondary schools to the university, and so it was with all their branches. This had been done by the Reform Party because it believed in equality of opportun-

ity. The speaker then touched on the aJtoi'ations made in the education board districts, and said it had been made’ cl ea r to him that, unless the districts were altered, no provision could be made for the teacher’s in the outside districts. He felt assured that as the Act came into operation it would bo valued by those who were occupied in teaching the children. The option of the freehold that had been given to a man owning land had also been extended to the working man desiring to own Ids home. The Workers’ Dwellings Act had been much better administered under the present Government than previously, and In the last 2£ years more dwellings had been erected than in six years previously. More than that, the Workers Dwellings Act had been made to apply to workers m rural districts as well, and 48 houses had been built for the latter. By this means, and also by means of bringing boy labour into the dominion it was hoped to render the country more productive, and thus prevent any shortage of wheat such as was being experienced at the present time. The Government had also reduced cost of living-, and further legislation in this direction would be introduced by Mr Massey during the next two years. One means of doing this would be by amending the Commercial Trusts Act so as to relieve the country from the operations of monopolies. With regard to the regulation of the prices of food on the outbreak of war a good deal of criticism had been levelled at the commission appointed by the Government, but the appointment of a commission was no use unless the Government of the day was prepared to go a step further and fix the price of any food product. In New South Wales the same thing had been done, but it had been found necessary to alter the price from time to time, and there the Government had failed to solve the difficulty. Unless a Government was prepared to fix the prices and commandeer all the wheat and flour in the country which the farmer and miller would not sell, there was not much use in the price being fixed by any commission. Mr Massey had adopted a policy which he believed was a sound one, and that W'as of importing wheat from outside New Zealand. In this way 45,000 bushels had been bought from Australia, and 250,000 bushels from Canada. Negotiations were now in progress for obtaining a further supply of 250,000 bushels from India. If the farmers held their wheat in the face of these importations they did so at their own risk, and it was very unlikely that they would obtain a better price than the ruling one of 5s 5d per bushel. With regard to the Old-age Pensions Act the Government had carried out various pledges with the object of liberalising and reforming it, and now the question of reciprocity with Australia was being arranged. Proceeding, the Minister defended the Government against the charge of excessive .borrowing, and claimed that the Reform Party had carried out the expenditure much better to the advantage of the country. It was also urged against the Massey Government that it had increased taxation, but since taking office the Customs revenue had boon decreased by 6d per head since the last year of the Ward Administration. The graduated land tax and the graduated income tax had both been increased, and wore now in advance of those imposed by the so-called Liberal Party, but the death duties, he admitted, had been steadily increasing to a slight extent. Referring to the question of defence, the Minister stated that no one would question the .fact that the national service system had justified itself. Ho regretted that it had not been in operation for a few years longer when the war broke out, as In that case more men of mature years could have been enabled to go to the front. It had been suggested as one of the planks in the platform of the Opposition that the age limit should bo reduced from 25 to 21 years, but if that were done they would see an even larger proportion of youths fighting the battles of their country than was the case to-day. Intimation had recently been received from the Motherland asking New Zealand to send larger reinforcements than had at first been intended, and though the response up to the present had been very ready he felt sure these men would be obtained. More than the number asked had already been despatched, while a Native contingent for service in Egypt had also been organised.—(Applause.) In connection with the policy to bo followed on matters of naval defence he was at one with Sir Joseph Ward with regard to an Imperial Navy and Imperial control. It was in the hands of British statesmen whether that policy was maintained, but in the future an alteration was looked forward to whereby Canada, Australia, and New Zealand would be represented in the administration of naval matters. Where opinions differed was as to how this navy was to be built up. Sir Joseph Ward believed in the policy of subsidies —of taking the New Zealand taxpayers’ money for expenditure by the Admiralty. That course was all right in the infancy of the country, but the subsidy had grown from £30,000 some years ago to £IOO,OOO to-day. That was not a statesmanlike policy from his point of view, and the country had no right to make payments when it had no representation whatever. —(Applause.) He believed that a sounder ancl more patriotic and more national method was to spend any money they had available on the training of their own men and then hand these over to the Imperial authorities on the outbreak of war. The time was coming when they would not only have to hand over men but put money into ships for war purposes.— (Loud applause.) Mr Gilmore wanted to know if Mr Allen had any objection to allowing women to become members of the Lower House.— (Laughter.) Mr Allen: Yes, I have a good many objections. Mr Gilmore: You have given them the vote. —(Laughter.) Mr Allen replied that the House would have greatly to reform before they could make it nice enough for women. In answer to a question whether bettor provision should not be made for the dependents of those killed in the war and also for the wounded, Mr Allen stated that provision was already made by statute for the dependents of those killed and also tor the wounded. The widow of a private would be paid £36 per annum and provision was also made to pay from £6 to £lO for an orphan child. The provision for the officers was higher. He could not state offhand what the rates were for those wounded. The provision made by the law might have to be amended. He did not make any promise—the matter would have to be gone into very carefully;—at the same time they coidd not allow men to go away without making ample provision in the direction mentioned.

Mr Allcock moved, and Mr Gilmore seconded —“ That a hearty vote of thanks be accorded Mr Allen for his address, and a vote of confidence expressed in the Massey Government.” The motion was carried unanimously amidst applause.