PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 22, 20 July 1911, Page 3

PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS

MR. HINE AT INCiLEWOOD. Mr. J. B. Hine, M.P. for Stratford, addressed a very well attended meeting of electors at the Inglewood Parish Hall on Tuesday night. The audience included a goodly sprinkling of ladies. Mr. G. W. Bennett, Mayor of Inglewood, presided, and introduced Mr. Hine as "one of the most-talked-of men in the Dominion during the past session of Parliament."

•Mr. Hine was accorded a hearty reception. He prefaced his political speech by thanking the people of Inglewood for the many messages of sympathy or of congratulation which he received concerning his action in the last session of Parliament, an action which he hoped would not be without its effect in securing the good governmetn of the country. He referred, as already reported, to the gaming, licensing, defence, national provident fund, and public debt extinction legislation of last session, and criticised these measures, as well as the tactics of the leaders of the Government party in the House.

BORROWING. Mr, Hine criticised the method of the Government borrowing, particularly on theg round of expense, and ridiculed the system adopted in regard to the recent five million loan, which was raised for a period of four years at 3y 2 per cent, at £9B 10s, a further £2 allowed for conversion, and six months' interest allowed if the conversion could be carried out in a few weeks instead of in the six months in which that interest would have been earned. The Opposition had tried in vain to obtain particulars as to the cost of the flotation of loans, but Mr. James Allen stated the other evening that the million loan of 1908 had cost £34,000, or nearly 3y 2 per cent.! The Reform Party wasn't so much against' borrowing as desirous of checking this extravagant expenditure and fche waste. Sir Joseph Ward and other Cabinet Ministers, speaking at Stratford, had challenged the Opposition to say what item of the expenditure of the five millions loan they would have objected to. That was easy—he objected to the extravagant waste of money in the Go-| vernnaent's water-power Bcheme, which] was interfering with private enterprise. He considered that the water-power in our rivers should be given free for industrial uses, or as nearly free as possible, but that regulations should be framed to prevent any monopoly or trading in it. He didn't believe the Lake Coleridge scheme was going to supply sufficient electrical current for Christchureh. Whilst the , Government was creating this water-power monopoly cfor itself it had refused the borough of Hastings authority to use water for a ' municipal water arid drainage scheme. Had lie been the member for Hastings [ he wouldn't have been quite as docile I about it as the Government member for this constituency.

THE COST OP LIVING. The cost of living should be reduced by the reduction of the cost of taxation. What was the spending power of the earners? How far did our earnings carry us along? Had our earnings' the same buying power as they had a few years ago?—(Cries of "No!") Certainly it had not. No one wanted to see a reduction of wages, but he wanted to .see the workers get more comfort for their money, and to lessen the cost of the essentials of life. Should the electors of the Dominion place the Reform Party in power at the next general election, one of the first acts of Mr. Massey would be to secure a reduction of the cost of living, instead of pandering to titles. RETRENCHMENT? The Government had made a great fuss of its retrenchment scheme, and a number of employees had been dismissed, but now those departments were costing more than ever. Of course, there had been increased income, but this had been secured by increased taxation, such as an increase in long-distance fares on the railways, increased death duties, a tax on racing clubs, increased land and income tax, and so on. OLD-AGE PENSIONS. He made several references to the action of the Government in taking planks from the platform of the Reform Party, claiming and passing them as their own. He supposed that next session they would steal the suggestion of the Opposition that the age at which women should become entitled to oldage pensions should be reduced from 65 years to 60. The Opposition would be pleased, however, to see anything done in the interests of the old-age pensioners, and particularly of the women. THE CIVIL SERVICE.

He believed in taking from the Ministry the right of apointments to and promotion in the civil service, which should he the work of a board subordinate to Parliament alone, and not influenced by the Government. The powers of Parliament were usurped bj the present Executive, and to a great measure the powers of the Executive were being usurped by the head of the Government. NATIVE LANDS.

There was need for reform in the Native Lands administration. Mr. Herries, who was an authority on this question, had advocated that all Maoris who, could pass the fourth standard should be Europeanised, treated as Europeans, and allowed to deal with their lands as they wished. This, however, did not the Native Minister. The Maori should not be despoiled of his lands, but should be taught the gospel of work—his only salvation—and his rents set aside for him to buy stock, etc., so that he might become a more useful inhabitant of the country. THE UPPER HOUSE.

Mr. Hine spoke of the necessity for a reform of the Legislative Council, so that its members would be representative of the people instead of being "pitch-forked" into the Chamber as a reward for services rendered. REFORM PARTY PLATFORM.

Despite the tactics of the Government in annexing the Opposition policy and treating it as the Government policy, Mr. Massey had the other evening fully announced the Reform Party's platform, being moved to do this by the feeling that the country was sick of the Ward Government, and anxious to know what the Opposition would do if returned to power.

He referred to the rumors of changes in electoral boundaries, and said that even if he were not the candidate here there would be another Opposition candidate, and he felt sure the Inglewood people would give him the same hearty support. Mr. Hine concluded by announcing that he would be a candidate in the next general election, and expressed his ambition to serve a further term as a member of the Parliament of New Zealand. One or two questions were dealt with. A vote of thanks to Mr. Hine, proposed by Mr. Hine and seconded by Mr. Hcnwood, senr., was carried by hearty acclamation. In returning thanks, Mr. Hine said his sole endeavor was to so carry put

his duties as to elevate the standard of politics and to safeguard the character of our public life. One could hardly be .too zealous in such a cause, and he felt that as long as a man worked for those ideals he need never regret his work. He proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman, and this concluded a very successful meeting, in which Mr. Hine appeared to have the entire sympathy "of his hearers. SOME CHIPS FROM THE SPEECH.

"I say right off thei.teeh that I have no time for gambling at all. .." "I say unhesitatingly that if ever I have the opportunity I shall vote in favor of deciding the question of national prohibition on a bare majority vote. . . ."

"I don't think the Legislature had any idea of forcing compulsory military training on people who have a conscientious objection to it." "Youths engaged on dairy farms will be called on for military training only during the 'off' season."

"If this non-party spirit (as evidenced in the passing of the gaming, licensing and defence legislation of last session) a little more we should get on better in the politics of New Zealand." ''l wonder sometimes if ever we are going to have a thorough and clean investigation of the financial affairs of the .Dominion. ... I don't suppose we will ever have the opportunity until the people of the Dominion follow the example of Taranaki and return all staunch oppositionists, men, I hope, who will not be afraid to speak their minds." "I don't suppose I would ever have got that investigation of 'the Hine charges' but for the fact of a cablegram being received from London by the. Government (he had this on excellent authority) that the fact of the charges being made was receiving some notice in London financial circles."

"Some of the judges in the Hine charges were also the accused. Isn't that rather remarkable?"

"Sir Joseph Ward told us before he went Home that he wanted Dr. Findlay with him to settle the Te Akau case which was now before the Privy Council at Home. . . . I have authority for saying the Te Akau case has not come off. Dr. Findlay went Home not to get the Te Akau case through, but to get a title. . . . If he stands for a country constituency the electors will show him what influence titles have with the democracy."