THE HON. T. MACKENZIE

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 73, 9 November 1911, Page 5

THE HON. T. MACKENZIE

SPEECH AT NGAIRE. The Hon. T. Mackenzie, Liberal candidate for the Egm'ont seat, delivered au address at the Ngaire Town Hall last night. There was an excellent attendance, and Mr J ones occupied the chair. ■ Mr Mackenzie was greeted with applause onTising. He said they were on the eve of one of the most important political battles in the history of the country. A grejit deal of misrepresentation took place about the actions of the Government; and he quoted from a newspaper article to prove this. This article said the Government’s offer of the freehold to holders of l.i.p.’ land was an insult; but he failed to see that the clause in the Land Bill giving holders the right to convert to freehold at any time subject to present-day Valuation was an insult. All over the country they heard the c»y that the dividing lino between the Government and the Opposition was the difference between freehold and leasehold; but sncli was not the case, nor had it ever been. Last session. the Government had brought down a Bill allowing for deferred payment for land, and generally the laws put.on the Statute Book by the present Administration were in the direction of (giving every facility to procure the freehold. The best lancf unoccupied in New Zealand was held by Natives, and the Government Was buying up these lands as quickly as possible. In a short time thirty thousand .acres of Native land in Taranaki and later on another thirty thousand acres would be thrown open for selection, and this land would be thrown open on the optional tenures. He had personally always been in favour of a limited freehold. People in Taranaki had no experience of reaggi’egation. ‘(A voice ;.>“What about Mokau?’’) Whenever the Mokau business came up' in Cabinet be personally had always turned it down, because of the many complications which-would liavejhad to-be overcome. The report, of the -committee sot up to investigate the matter showed that the owners of the block had no monopoly of the minerals. The land had been taken up..at a price very, much over tlie value, placed on it j>y the Government valuers. Mr Massey, at Eltham,. said the Government had no land policy, ’and said the Budget did. not provide for, anything being done to reduce the cost of living. These who were engaged in the export of produce, knew that there were trusts which controlled, the produce of ? the country at the other end, nnci f -'ere were even trusts being formed in New

Zealand; and the Government was in- . teresting itself in combating thorn. Iq the Budget, however, remissions of various sorts were shown. Provision was also made for the fostering ot tlie oil' and iron industries. This help to the. oil industry was being given in Taranaki. It was not given to! fi. (Jistricb fylu'eh' returned_ govern-, ment. members, raid it. was highly de-. sirahfejtliat the help, should ,he given,, The Budget’ indicated the intention ot-‘,the u ( ! J!6bernnloht td tiike steps to plhce :: theb producer beyond the reach ofvth'e-speculator. ‘ This' ho regarded aA an' Important departure in'‘policy. Hi 04 Mttckdnssid-' here quoted * .various itefcbfe - from u tllte; l Budget, making foi; reduction'of the cost of living.:' 'Lie Government 11 iiitehcled to iiVcreare the graduated ’tak f 6n; big holdings of land. The pVe's'erii' ildmini'sti'ation ,'hacl spent, W’-gteaf. ddal’ -'of morio'y Pn tll^Mhjrip‘industry 1 ,- with' 'Hie result tMtl-ridw' the, Wniritry was 1 sending'butred ‘Bidtain which was Second only to. the! butter from Denmark. He thought New Zealand butter would be more . popular if producers wqre nipyh^mhuldl'—lf they did not sell dft’efctl’bnfe 'season and consign the next. This irregular course made it impossible for consumers tp rely on gettiiig 11 the 11 same brand each year.; Hd :, thd%h't. much gould slill'lio done W-'-'prpber]'advertising in Great Bhcafh! ’‘' Hd• ‘thought a lecturer'ishould ]jt}' engaged to' 1 , travel through Engr UhflbM’d to'ldcturd jon the’'industry; - arid, Show; lantern slides. If elected, lie ivould move in the direction of sectoring 1 'sUch it lecturer. The 'other night Mr Pearce had. told an afidlince thht ! ‘.the 'present Government had well-known'dairy regulations laW, but the 1 actual position was that the' regulations; never Hvere law; What the Governjnent..desired to do in that direction was to stop any dairyman from sending-dirty milk to-a factory, thereby spoiling the quality of a good deal of butter. The experimental farms were very unpopular a few years ago, and there were suggestions for the ceasing of the work; but since he had had charge of the farms lie had gradually jvil them on a good footing, and the farms at the present date made more money than was expended on them. Ho intended to secure the services of a man with up-to-date scientific agricultural and to place him in charge of the farms. Some might say that the present officers of the . Department should he promoted, and hb desired to do so but for the position he had indicated there was nobody in the country with the necessary knowledge. The people of the country should always endeavour to co-operate »with townspeople—they should recognise that they were lighting for the good of'the country. It would he a good thing for the country if there was a heavy, duty on imports of shoddy woollen goods, which were expensive to the buyer and-were largely bought by working men. The otJier day. Mr Pearce said of him (Mr Mackenzie) that he had onco kept a store and that therefore lie could know nothing about agriculture. He had done store-keeping, in addition to being engaged in a variety of otheu occupations. Much had been heard some time ago about the speaker’s methods at the Moumahaki farm, but he had gone quietly on with his work notwithstanding the clamour. Mr Pearce • claimed credit for having stopped the Moumahaki ' farm from being dosed down. As to that, all ho could say was to refer to the fable of Bill Adams, who firmly believed he won the battle of-Waterloo. He (Mr Mackenzie) had been accused of an act of bribery at Wanganui, but this only had reference to tiie appointment of an export grader, the appointment being justified - by the amount of business. As soon as the last session had finished, Mr Massey had rushed up to Taranaki and had addressed many meetings; He (Mr Massey) intended to come- hack and “wind-up” the speaker ; out Mr Mackenzie did not care how often he came hack. He was quite prepared to stand by the judgment which must he given if his and Mr Massey’s records were investigated. A great deal of hypocrisy had been spoken by the Opposition regarding the raising of the live million loan. All the Opposition had voted in favour of the loan and had come for their share of it, and, having done that, he did not think the party should turn round and state that the Government was bankrupting the country by reason of excessive borrowing. The chief thing to be remembered about the money borrowed by the Government was that only about thirteen per cent, of the money borrowed did not hoar interest. When the money was interestearning it could not he said that borrowing was entirely disadvantageous.

The country had spent a lot of money on railways, and if those railways were sold lie was sure enough money would lie realised to pay tho whole of the country’s debt. Great numbers of concessions in Custom duties had been made of recent years by the Government. Sixpence a pound had been taken off tea in bulk. A tax of twopence per pound had been put on tea in packets, this being done to encourage the packing of tea in the Dominion. He did not approve of this tax. He thought taxes should be imposed to support entirely New Zealand industries, and not for an industry which relied on imported raw material. The Government had increased taxation on incomes, this being largely paid by town dwellers. Previously townspeople bad npt paid a proper share of taxation, and he thought the course taken should have been taken earlier. Of recent years tlie income tax had been increased from £89,000 to £407,000; and this was largely paid by those well able to afford it. Ho had been asked if he intended to fight tlie election by himself. Ho did intend to fight the election with only his own efforts. He did not intend to have any imported help. He would stake his political fortune on the election, and felt quite capable of fighting his own fight. At Eltham Mr Massey said there was a loan which had been raised five years previously, and about which the House had not yet got information. He (the speaker) had made inquiries and had been informed by the Treasury that information regarding all loans up to 1909 had been laid on the table of tlie House. The recent strikes .in Great Britain had been caused owing to the unequal distribution of wealth, and they should be regarded favourably by New Zealand people. The strikes would tend to increase the spending power of the workers, who would be able to buy better food and clothes. There was no prospect of a fall in the price of meat. Ho hoped that soon the barriers keeping New Zealand moat, out.oft Continental countries would cither be entirely broken down or at least modified. Mr Mackenzie resumed his seat amid applause. • ■ i In,reply To questions.■ Mr Mackenzie ‘said there might lie increased cost of co-operative labour, but if labourers were hot paid what they were they would not stay in -New Zealand. Thb matter of whether tlie Opunako railway should come to Ngaire would have to be left to a commission. Sixpence a case had been taken off the duty on kerosene about seven years ago. He could not say who imposed the tax in tlie first place—it had been on for about twenty-five years. Cooperative labourers would not have loafers forced on them as mates—all the men had the right to choose their own mates... Mr Massey had accused the speaker of having visited the Egmout scat during two week-ends at the expense of the country. Those‘trips had cost him £24 of his own mnr'-v. The other Ministers followed a,similar, course in regard to election expenses. The Ministers were an honourable hand ■of man, but there were 1 suspicious people who cast: aspersions; •I on everybody. The Government ,did not guarantee to put a road to. every section surveyed. He had come to speak ~at Ngaire because 1 it was the mpst convenient, gathering point for some of the; voters in Ins electorate.. ■ Ori the motion of Mr E. A. seconded by ‘Mr Kilbride, a vote or thdnksi was ;pa&ed to Mr Mackenzie hivin' i-. ■■■'■> *• *-‘v