THE GENERAL ELECTION.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13641, 2 December 1914, Page 6

THE GENERAL ELECTION.

.AI>DRI!ISS BY HON. J. ALLEN,

\ The -Mou. James 'Allen, Minister of Dofertoo, Finance, and -Education, acl<iressod a packed meeting of electors at the- Theatre Royal last opening. Shortly after the doors v.ero opened at 7.15 tho main body of t-ho hall and tho dress circle wore comfortably filled, and by twenty minutes to eight there wasnot a wu-ant beat, tho .«tage was iully occupied, the passages crowded, and many wvra unable to Rain aumittanco. Mr 0, J. Harley occupied tho chair. Whon the Hon. Mr Alien appeared on the platform accompanied by Mr 1. Field, tho Government? candidate for Nelson, and Mr John Graham, ex-M.t*. for Nolson, he was received with prolonged applause. In introducing the Hon. Mr Allen, the chairman said that he was born in New Zealand, and educated m Ji-ng-land. In his early days he was a prominent footballer iv Otago, and had also held tho office of colonel in the Garrison Artillery. He had also been Chancellor of the Otago University. He had always taken a great interest in politics, and with the exception of one period of three years had been a member of Parliament since 1887. When Mr. Massey came into office he wa* appointed a iVi.iiii.ster of the Crown, iind now 'held the portfolios of education, finance, and defence. As Minister of Finance he had control'of the State Advances Department, which lent a lar^e vmm of "money annually. As' Minister for Defence he was head of tho department which recently'despatched" 8000 men .fiom our shores to fight for our country, and was arranging f«r some thousands, more to follow.(Applause.) As Minister for Education ho was head, not only of primary and secondary education, but also administered the orphanages and homes for defective children. The honourable genWoman took th^ greatest- interest in the various Departments ho controlled, and nothing was too small to engage his attention. That day, said the chairman, he went to Brightwator to sco if the rifle range was a safe one. (Ironical laughter.) "I instance that/ said the chairman, "to show the small things he attends to." The Minister, he said, had also visited the Home for Defectives, and the Stoke Orphanage. In concluding his introductory remarks the chairman bespoke for Mr Allen, a fair and attentive hearing, and intimated that at the end of the, address motions would be proposed, but no speeches would be .allowed. The Son. Mr Allen, who was accorded a hearty reception, expressed his appreciation of the large gathering which tiad assembled to hear . his remarks. They had probably-heard nothing good about him or the Ministry, but it was Axis business to put the other side of the question and to. remove any misapprehension. They had-been told that he was a money lender" and was opposed to tne State Advances Office. He was not a money lender; unfortunately; -he was a money borrower. (Laughter.). Neither was he opposed to the State Advances Office, for he-would show that it had been more actively administered under the Reform Government than any previous Government. He denied that the Government was the friend of the squatter and* was opposed to the working man. The Government was the friend of everybody, and tried to do tfae best for the bulk of the people. They had given the small settlers the opportunity of .securing the freehold, but if they desired to retain the leasehold they could' do so as long as they liked. The only increases in taxation made by the Government had been in the graduated land-tax and the graduated income-tax. As these existed formerly they were unfair. The Government had done away with the steps- and had increased the tax gradually, on land valued from £5001) up to the highest. For evecy £ in unimproved value over • ... certain amount there was a slight increase." Those who had tried to show that the Government had not increased tiietaic had taken one" step only. Under the old 4aw the tax on £31,000 unimproved yalue was £96,-under the'nev law it was £126; on £70,000.under, the old law it was £620, under the new. law if. was £718. If the Government were the friend of the squatter why did they increase, the graduated land-tax ? Those who were opposed to them did not think fcihey would do it. It was done to induce the large landowners to break up their large estates. The land-tax in i:>o9-10 was 13s Id per head^in 1911-12, the last year of the Ward and^Mackenzie Tvlinistries, it decreased to 12s ; 8d per head; the present Government increased it to 14s 3d per head in 1913. Now who said Mr Allen was tho friend of the (Applause.) The Govern-' m.ent had done the same in regard to the income-tax. During the Ward administration it was 8s lOd per head, and the Massey Government had increased it to 10s 3d per head; and next year there would bo a greater increase owing to the increased graduation. In regard to land settlement, the present Government had purchased more land for settlements than any previous Government.' In 1910-11 the Ward Go- j vernment purchased twelve estates at j . a cost of £158,000; in 1911-12, when tho • Massey ■Government',came in, thirteen ■estates .were purchased -at a cost of "£39§sQo; iii 1912-13 x^teen estates M> a txrtft of :-£SL4',OOO.; -esiiti in .JSl34£. - twenty-three ©states at a wst v$F £560.,----000.. Wliat about the sqtiilter? .They tiad taten his land fromtiim. What had the Government done- for •tfie worker? (Voices: Nothing.) Mr Allen said he was rather amu«:*c2 at ifcat. He would deal with one item on •tlie cost of Jiving. , (Voice: Suscar.) "iSiere m no duty on sugar," replied tlie Minister, "therefore there is nothing f» remove." The item he referred to was rent. He did not cl'iim that the Government introduced the Workers' !!>.ve'}lings Act—(Appiause)—but tb'oy Had admiri-sirv-os! it jr.ove '.actively and" ha»i'.-.(•.•"!>t im.•■>■■■ n-"r.-:-y flian any of their ];«v.!"-.-s:;-. r.s. Ik.- v.culd also reramd ti-fin that '■sHg.-.i," and he meant n\;uU.'\\ vn- not \t-ry plentiful wTien ti t-y (••■•»k* n'^ offc.-. But during" ti:? t:-o :iTid a;:ti* >?<•)•> -they had been ;«''r-ificc t'-oy h•>.".! s-i»nt more monej' ou worker1)"' homes than the Warn-' Ariwiiustraticn. Dunn^ the six year's Sir Joseph W.Tnl --vus in office ho/ereek-d 212; during Mr. Massey's time. . (Here tho Minister lost his figures.; 'A vmi'f: Tell him, Mr Field. /—Lauf;iitr-r.) Lt<?,t year the Govern- / monfc expended -£-i£,S47 on workers' dw<?tlij:y,-. find .in the -current programme- L^Oo dwellings ■sivere- provided for. , IT.idor the old "administration -workers' dwellings -were only erected in v*he but Mr ■ Massey had extended -the system to rural districts, so that workers in the country might have tno •same opportunity as the dwellers in tho cities. -That was done to "' encourage workers' to settle in the country. At tho.present moment, said the Minister, there was a shortage of wheat in tho .country, and there'would iprobably be a shortage of flour and bread unless the Ministry took steps to prevent-it If the worker wanted cheap .bread they should offer'him facilities ror going m■faffithe country. (A voice: What wages? Six, shillings a day?) The best thing . they could do was to grow more wheat and keep the price of flour and bread down.. *tfhat else had the Government dona? (Voices: Nothing.) It had been - said thai the ■ Government opposed the old-age pensions. (A voice: Quite right.) The Old-Age Pensions Act as originally ' introduced penalised the thrifty man, and while the man who ■^asred. -nothing'on reaching the age of 65..received the full pension, the -thnity man who had married and -got a homo was penalised because of his tnriit. (A voice: How much can a'man. save on <aignt bob a day?) That that .mar.f

should not be penalised had 'been shown by lite alterations that had been made in the law. \i would he- the further policy of the Government to see,that the .thrifty person was not penalised in having ins pension assessed. (Applause.) Had they done nothing for women workers? (A voice: Woollen workers. Aixillior voice: Given them longer hours.) Under tho old law women could not get a pension until they were 65 years of age; the present Government Ji:ui reduced the age to 60. That was costing the Government £80,000 per annum. Okl soldiers had also been granted pension.*, which was costing tho uovei'iiment £-35,000 per annum. They had also provided pensions for children under 14 years of age whose mother was a widow,.and for women whose husbands were in mental hospitals. They had also made a reciprocal agreement with the 'Commonwealth which enabled a pensioner to live in Australia without losing his pennon. They had also raised the amount tor which a man's goods could lte lawfully distrained upon from £25 to £50. They had also enabled accused persons charged with indictable offences to be provided with counsel by the State to assist them in their defence.

The Minister then referred to a proposal made by Mr Craigie in the House of Representatives that depositors in the Bank of New 'Zealand should be paid 2 per cent., on their current accounts. -They had been.led to believe by the membVu- for the district that the present Government opposed that proposal, and that he voted against it. The motion was lost by' 42 to J3. He would read the names of the first three members who opposed it—Anderson, Atmore, ——. (Cheers drowned the rest of,the speaker's remarks.) ; .Referring to financial matters, the Minister said the finances of the country were left by their predecessors in a very bad way. (A voice: Tell xis about; tho pigeon-holed.) When the Ward Government left office, in March, 1912, there was £807.000 in the ConsolidateJ Fund, including £770,000 in cash, and the liabilities totalled £293,000. ,On July 31st, 191"J, when the Massey Government took office, the £770,000 cash had dropped to £47,000. On March 31st tho authorities available under the I State advances departments totalled £684,000, and the liabilities and commitments totalled £1,538,000. There was a deficiency of £853,000.. Sir Joseph Ward boasted in 1911 that he had arranged to advance £2,400,000, although under the law he could only borrow li millions, but he did this because he was allowed to use the ballances of unraised loans of previous years. The Minister stated that in that year the fund was used for electioneering purpose^s. (Applause.) In March, 1912, the commitments for advances to workers totalled £557,000, and there'was only £1215 available to meet it. That burden was left to Mn Myers, but a great deal of it fell oh his (Mr Allen's) shoulders. In the Public Works Fund £l,132 ; O0O was iivailable, and the commitments totalled £1,-------135,000. In the' three funds the amounts available*-totalled £2,624,000 and the commitments £2,96T,000, a de ficiency of £343,000. In 1914, the amounts available totalled £3,467,000, and the commitments £1,958,000, leaving an available surplus for the three departments of over a million and a half, instead of a deficiency. (Applause.) They had been told that the Government was an extravagant one. (A voice :Not on our railway.) In regard to travelling allowances, he had taken out the figures and found that for the last" six years of the Seddoh Government the amount was £2568 per annum; during the Ward Government the amount was £2846; and last year, the Massey Government's amount was £2147. (Applause.) It had been said that the Government was pledged to reduce borrowing. lie challenged anyone to show that statement in thte platform of the Reform party. -What they did say was that they would administer borrowed money carefully. However, accepting the view that they had promised to. reduce borrowing, lie would'take the twenty-seven months qt the Massey Gcveinment. In that tim\* they had borrowed £14,636,000. , What did'their predecessors do?; In twentyseven months 'tbey had borrowed £16;-------496,000. Sir Joseph Ward's loans included payment for the Dreadnought, bi|t in th present Government's loarts was the deficiency left them for State advances, which was also, nearly a million. The amount of rijoney ••.■•liandea

over to him when he took office was £1!-------227,000. ■ The finances of the countr;, w<\r© iiot only stronger vow, but the^ had £1,973,000 to'hand over to their successors. Some of them believet, that the Government had cut down th-j advances to settlers. The maxijuum advances was cut down to £500 before , they took office. The speaker road a memo, from rip- Joseph Ward to the head of the Advances Department instructing him to curtail advances until funds became available. That fact should have been published by the Government, and not withheld until after the ejections. By failing to go on the * market for a loan and getting temporf ary advances where he could, in spite ;of warnings, Sir Joseph Ward landed : his successor, Mr Myers, in serious difficulties. The latter was compelled, to .goon the market, and ho had to take a short-dated loan at £5 Is Id per cent. He could bell them that Mi* Myers.had !an opportunity to get the«noney on bet- { ter terms, but he"lost his opportunity. k ! Repayment of that loan baa*been provided for. The loan was taken' up.,'•byfinancial ( institutions in London, and . they insisted oh payment when it .was due. They would not convert or-renew. ! The. same applied to the last loan of . Sir Joseph Ward. These two Ministers . had no right to commit the country in such a way. When he was in London he made'temporary provision for.'the three and a quarter millions coming due •this month, bub the war broke out. He jwas pleased to state, however, that.the I Imperial Government was assisting them, and the money would be raised at a cheaper rate than the original loan. The war loan of £2,000,000 was also being provided in the same way. Thfc. was highly satisfactory, and showed the confidence with which the Dominion was regarded at Home. One of the reasons for this was that the Government had administered the affairs of the country constitutionally—(Applause and dissent) —and. had maintained law and order at a time of industrial strife. Another reason was that he had* entered into a definite arrangement with the| Home Government for the despatch of an expeditionary force in time of need. To arrange for that was one of his duties when he visited London, and they knew the criticism that was levelled at him when he was away. Because of1 that arrangement they were able to,organise and despatch the Expeditionary Force fully equipped in two months. Referring to the Samoan Expedition, Mr Allen said he wished to remove any impression that the idea originated in New' Zealand. The Dominion was requested by the Imperial Government to occupy .Samoa for Imperial purposes, and no one would have said "No" to such a request at such "a time These things had established the Dominion in very high estimation at Home. Mr Allen then gave' figures to show that the Government had been-carrying on the advances departments in what he termed a highly satisfactory manner. It had gradually strengthened the financial position ,and provided more money for advances to settlers and workers., and had been able before %j war to put the advances up to the maximum allowed by the law, though sinceSHho war there had had to be a reduction again. Nevertheless, a huge sum of money had been lent, out by the advances departments in the three war months. With regard to the> appointment of officers to the. Expeditionary Force, he denied that he had used or permitted any influence to naive weight in the making of those appointments. The method of appointment had been the same all through, under' instructions given to the General Officer ComImanding as to who should be recommended. Mr Allen proceeded to give the official reasons for the appointmeat of certain officers whose names had been before the public in this connection. (Cries of "What about Lu«re?") Lucre, said Mr Allen,, was not recommended: to him for a commission, and' therefore lie did not appoint him to one. (A, voice: 'fHe is a poor man.") He did.jriot know whether he;'was poor or rich; that would make no difference to him. He knew, the facts about Lucre. Lue'ro". was a very excellent oincer. (Applause.) He wanted ta; go to the front, and he ybhiriteeredto 'go. ■He did not; ask for a commission.: He volunteered! to go as a sergeant, and he was appointed as one. He lost a stripe, but he got it back again, and he went away with the Force as a sergeant. .He wanted to as a sergeant, so as to be'with his mates. (Applause.) Mr .Allen read General Godley's reasons for the appointment of Mr C. B. Morison's son as a second-lieutenant. He repeated his denial that influence was considered, and said ho had done the best he oouU to send away the Expeditionary Force as well equipped and as well officered as it was possible for any man to do it. In -a reference to what were called the canteen scandals., Mr Allen said that as soon as he learnt of the complaints he made arrangements for the I canteens on the transports to be run on a y regimental basis, under which the profits from them would go to the regiments. He next referred to what tha Government had done for the education system in improving the salaries and,' positions of teachers and for the improvement of the work of the inspectorate and the Education Boards. The alterations, in the education system, which' were probably the, most important tha-t: had been,jmade since the Education Act: was first passed, had been carried out in the space of 'two years, and were the work of the '^present Government, 'wihich was a truly Liberal Government. They had seen in the last few months how necessary it was to have adopted the system of military training, and he wanted to warn' them that tne enemies of the system.- were not on: his- Bid® of the House. There were on the other side men who advocated'the, reduction of the age of training front 25 to 21. It'was a matter of great regret to him that the system .had been .in" existence for co short a time that they h ad' not sufficient trained men of maturer ages for the front, and had to take them younger than he thought desirable. They had given special attention to artillery; and at Trentham at pesent was a battery of "howitzers ready to go to the front. The officer in charge of the battery was an Imperial officer, and he had. declared that the, personnel of the battery was'second!to none- They had despatched.: the: Force to Enrpp©i and the Samoan Expedition, "luj armed and equipped. There were .ndw; in camp at Trentham 2000 men who would probably sail this month to reinforce the force in Europe, and reMorooments would thereafter sail regularly. Their Maori brethren had demanded to lie allowed to do their ,share in the.defence of the--Empire, and.soo of them W been accepted for -service in Egypt. He appealed to the rifle clubs and reserve to be patient for a while. The arming and equipment of the torce had taken the available resources of the De-.{ partment. but later he hoped, to be able.

• to', .treat, them more liberally than was1 possible at the present time. Turning i to naval defence, Mr Allen said that he :and Sir Joseph Ward and all ihe people were agreed upon one point—there must be one Imperial Navy, under one ■i imperial control. (Applause.) Whej her that, control must always be in ,'t he-hands of the Admiralty was another" j'lUestion. As yeans went on the Do s.iinions would certainly demand a share in. that control. He and Sir Joseph Ward differed materially, however, on the means of giving effect to that Im-p<-"ial fleet, ana control. He. held that t .3 subsidy system was -unsound ecoj'.imically and otherwise. ComP ratively few New Zealanders were b ing trained for the Navy. The sounde c policy was, instead of offering mon'.c.\ to the Ijnperial Navy ,to offer men— men trained by Imperial officers for the time being, up to the standard of the Imperial men,, men selected by ourselves, trained by ourselves, v.ith the help of Imperial officers; and paid by us. It was a more inspiring thing to hand over to the Imperial Navy men trained up to the Imperial standard — their men rather than their cash. Their law provided that when war broke out theii ships and personnel went over to the Imperial authorities automatically, and became Imperial ships. Their own training ship, the Philomel, was now an Imperial ship. This policy would have to go further in the years to come. The subsidy men were prepared to pay half a million a year out of New Zealand pockets for najval defence, without New Zealanders having an opportunity to share in the expenditure or in the control of it. New Zealand had given a Dreadnought to the Imperial Navy. (Loud applause.) That ship had done good work in the last few months; he admitted that readily. But he wanted to say that all the gift meant was that the British taxpayers were saved the cost of a battleship. Had New Zealand not presented the ship it would have been built by the Imperial authorities, i The gift had not added to the naval strength of the Empire; They used to hear sneers about the "toy navy" of Australia, but they did not hear them now, after the work that fleet Bad jdpne. What of the single Bristol cruisler that Mr Massey desired to have staj tioned in New Zealand waters. The Australian Sydney, which caused the destructidn of the Emden, was a Bristol cruiser. He had been greatly impressed by Senator Pearce's reply to his cable of congratulation on the Sydney's work. The Australian Minister in his reply referred to the Sydney as a" vessel of the British Navy. Mr "Allen then referred briefly to the Government's measures for the reform of the Upper House, the civil service, and the Dp.minion'-s finances,; and" the reduction of th© age at which.women became qualified "for the old-age pension. They had also done something in regard to industrial luirdst' and the' cost !of living. (Laughter.) They had not been able to undertake the" revision of the Customs tariff owing to the war. (Laughter.) He would say, however, that those who thought the cost of living oould be much reduced in that way were mistaken. Only the removal of the duties on wheat and flour - would make a material difference. .Those duties had been removed, and »the Prime Minister when he'saw that ;there- would be a shortage of wheat had arranged for s.upplies from outside, and. in so doing he had done a statesmanlike thing. Some of the pledges of the 1911 platform had not been carried out. They had not been able to reform the local government system. The. Liberals failed to do so for 20 years, and the Reform party had not been able to- do so in their two and a half years. They hoped to do so in the next three yeais. (xVpplause and dissent.) '■■ They .would also deal with the question of/ monopolies. He had mentioned half a dozen pledges that had been carried out, and there were only two that had -not. In answer to an interjection. \Mr Allen referred to the Huntly disaster, and expressed regret that the accident was being used'for political purposes. Why was not the Liberal Government blamed for ■not; parsing legislation after the Brunher disaster. Ho denied absolutely that the failure to pass Ihei Mining Bill was responsible for the accident: (Uproar.) The existing legislation gave all the powers, - neqessary,. In other mines the inspectors .required ;Mh.<e> use of safety lamps u'ffdetHhfr feani#'- clause j 58.; ?:• •"Messrs-; &obejton, ; and McKenzie had vsaid w the House'that A the nonpassin<* of the^ Bill hadihad nbthingro do with, "the disaster. t -(3iJc>uC[^issent.) What Mr Robertson e^i)fes^d|himself against was the bogus'.^uni^nv'jat the I mine.:. Thas union.*., how^|i\'-^as p!roperly formed and registered uaper the Arbitration Act. In cbnclusiSn Mr Allen thanked the audier.ee for th© excellent hearing it had given, him. He had come there to assist as much as he could the candidature of Mr Field, who was known to them as an honourable and capable man. He had rendered considerably services to the city, and he was one of themselves. He (Mr Al|len) hoped they would now enable him to widen those services, and assist not only Nelson, but the Dominion. Mr Allen resumed hia seat amidst I prolonged applause. Mr B. Webley moved a vote of thanks to the Hon. James Allen; .for Bis aM .dress,, and orie of coniiclenoe in.the Reform (government. He asked Mr Allen %o- accept it as it stood* With their be,st 'wishes|,for a great victory at the poll. He. hojied the Opposition-oii that day. would find that it was "a long way to Tipperary.'1 " -~-•'. The motion was seconded, in two places. Mr W. F. Swass moved an amendment of thanks -only; which-'was also seconded. . " A show of hands was taken, and tne resolution was declared carried, there appearing to be a substantial majority in favour of it. A call for cheers* for Mr Atmore was responded to-lustily,, an«l on the .call or Mr Field cheers were given for Mr Allen. The meeting concluded witn the customary vote to the chairman.