POLITICAL ADDRESS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 17, 20 June 1913, Page 7

POLITICAL ADDRESS.

MR J. B. HINE„ M.P.j. AT STRATFORD. About seventy people .assembled at the Town Hall on Wednesday evening to hear Mr .J. B. Hiue's pre-sessional address, but before the meeting closed the attendance was nearer a hundred and fifty.. The Mayor of Stratford, Mr W. P. Kirkwood, presided. Before entering on the discussion of political questions, Mr Hine made feeling reference to the great loss, sustained by the House,' and .by the country in the death of Sir A. Guinness, the Speaker. Young members of Parliament needed a guiding hand in .the House, and the late Sir Arthur had been an ideal man in that respeot, helping .the younger members along the hazy and difficult paths. They had lost a true friend and a good guide, and his memory would long be cherished by members of'.this and previous Parlia merits. Mr Hine then .referred to the ''great change" in political affairs since last general election—.a change which he hoped would he for.the better. But there had hardly been time yet to hazard a true opinion .of what the present Government would .be. The "Continuous Ministry" had .been defeated, and to-day he found himself .a.Government supporter (A voice: By accident). No, it was no accident, and there would be rio accident, either, when the general election came round. The Reform Party had placed its platform before the people at tlie last general eleceion, arid were still adhering to it. That policy had been determined by the jiarty in conference, and he was pleased to say scime of tlie reforms advocated had been placed on the Statute' Book last session. The Government had sustained not a single reverse in the lower House, but the Legislative Council had rejected its Bill providing for an elective Upper House. The Reform Party had always stood, fox the abolition of the. nominative system,, believing it was not conducive to good ;gavei!nment. For in j nearly every instaaice a member of the, t Upper House was the .nominee of the ■ party in power, to assist in carrying out its wishes. Had the present Government, been determined to -stick to .oflice it i would never «ave proposed .an elective Council, but would have .retained i.u- system of patronage so long iheld by the con- j tinuous Ministry. The Premier'had late-1 ly announced that members would be appointed to the Council to enable his proposals to be carried, aawl at the end of their seven years' term the appointed members would all vacate tthair seats. Thus the reform of the Chamber would be a slow process. ~ One of the most important measures passed last session was the Public Service I Act, which also aimed at the abolition of the system of patronage, amd placed a board in charge of all appointment and \ promotions in the public service. Thus; members would no longer be buttonholed ■ to secure preferment for iadivMuak in the service—and there would pass away 1 a system as unpleasant for M.P.'s as it i was to the individuals making the requests. Tuis scheme of Public Service reform had been rejected by the previous administration. THE LAND QUESTION'. The Government had made good its ! promises on the land question. The party stood for the freehold (applause). The late Government stood for the leasehold, although some members of the party had, endeavored to cloud the issue. True, some members of the Liberal Party had .had leanings towards the freehold, but they had sacrificed their opinions to the party, and had lost their seats. (A, voice: What about Fishert) He's a lease-] holder, T believe. (The voice: 1 thought you said your party was a freehold par-] ty). .Mr Hine reckoned it would be a I bold man who would advocate leasehold | in any of tlie country constituencies to-1 day. j , FINANCE. Great financial difficulties had stared the new Government in the face when it took office. But tbev had had a clear exposition of the country's finances, a thing they would probably never have had but for the Reform Party. (Mr N. .1. King: You'll get it in the prospectus you issue 1 ill London). Mr Hine: The prospectus J doesn't count. We know how rosy aj 1 prospectus can be made to look. It can be made very pleasing to the eye, but > 1 underlying it all is the intention to de- 1 1 ceive. (.Mr King: Oh!) He challenged ! anyone to deny the correctness of the 1 Government's Financial Statement. The J Liberal members in the House had been unable to attack it. The Mackenzie ad- ' ministration, though only in power for 1 three or four .months, hail increased the ' Public Works liabilities by nearly four millions in (.hat time. Why had they in- ' creased at that rate? Because'the Go- ' vernment of the day had not the where-, withal to meet its commitments. Departments had pledged themselves to lend and expend money without having made 1 any provision to pay. That was what ' the Mackenzie administration had done. 1 A voice: And your party made him High Commissioner for his cleverness. You hadn't a man with brains enough. . Mr Hine: Are you proud of your man! Mr King, the interjector: I'm not, by I any means. Yon bought him, politically, 1 body and soul, ' / The Mayor sought to restore order. ' Mr Hine, continuing, said that Mr Mac- s kenzie was the man supported by the ( Liberal Party and accepted as its leader; 1 yet there were Liberals here who said i he had been bought 1/ody and soul, lie * (the speaker) could not admire tlie spirit ' pigmenting some Liberals. Passing on, Mr Hine said tlie Mackenzie administration's loan of 4'/ a nrilions was for two years. The other day Mr Myers, Colonial Treasurer at the time the loan was raised said that this loan when converted, would turn out better than the Hon. Mr Allen's. But no provision for conversion h:\d been made by Mr Myers at all. Ami the moneylender had absolutely declined to renewal the end of the two years, and the Minister of Finance would have to make an entirely new arrangement. Mr Hine stated that one effect of the MackenzieMyers administration was that now the present Government had to go to the London market for renewal of nine millions in loans. (Dissent from the front seats), lie modified the statement, saying that in addition to money for ordinary requirements the Government had to provide for their renewals, which included the Mackenzie-Myers commitments. The present Government, he added, had had to pay up these short loans and provide the money for .U750.110U promised to local bodies and so on when there was only £l7o,(Mil) in the exchequer. (Mr King: There was a million and a half in the exchequer).

Mr Kryday: f panic here to hear Mill inc. After that we'll give an li our to Mr King. The Mayor again asked the audience to desist from interruptions, and said lie would ask the same favor if he had to preside over the Liberal candidate's meeting before the next election. Mi' nine said there would be no Liberal candidate (laughter), and went on with his linance. Ill"iellv. the Massey (joverunicnt. had had to pay up back debts and to find money for local bodies. Some people. were endeavoring to delude others into the belief that the (ioveriunent was responsible for the shortage of money. (Mr Sole: your own party was responsible for starting the cry. You said you had no funds).

Mr lliue: (here was 110 monev because there was a liability,of. I'/, millions in the Public Works "Department. H,. went 011 lo sav (hat in the late .Air Seildon's tii.-.c lit* IfoV.IHy was

1 £'250,000 to £400,000, but under j ing Governments it litid increased alarm's ingly. But they were picking up now. and hoped soon to have State money to • j lend. Who imposed the £SOO limit to (farmers? Sir .Joseph Ward. Who im- , posed the £SOO limit to local tiouies? • Sir Joseph Ward. (A voice: Who opposed it altogether? Mr. Massey). Mr. Hine denied that ' Mr Massey or his party had ever opposed the institution ' of the State lciiuing Departments. As a matter of fact the Massey Government 1 was increasing the limit imposed. It was ■ the absolute duty of any Government to ' provide money for development purposes, , for advances to settlers and workers and so on. The Government must in the near future extend its lending operations. , All knew of the stringency in the money market, and it looked as though there ■was.a harvest in store for the moneyed gentlemen unless the Government stepped ' in. He lioped they would, and that the £750,000 surplus would be devoted to lessening the stringency. . DEFENCE. Referring to what he termed the 1 growing vote for defence purposes, Mr : Hine referred to the visit of H.M.S. New 1 Zealand to New Plymouth. He had been, ' impressed with the'bearing of the officers who were plainly there for duty, and ' not mercenary purposes—there to protect the trade courses of the Empirethere not for' aggressive purposes, but 1 for defence. No one, he thought, would ' grudge expenditure on the navy, the 1 iirst line of our defence. The spirit of .patriotism should be instilled in the ' heart of every boy and girl in this eoun- ' trv; love for the mother country; and admiration fdr the nation to which they 1 belong (applause). If: it were .'always remembered that training was for.de--1 fence and not for offence, such training would be more likely to bring out the ! manly than the. aggressive spirit of the > child. In strength to repel lay our great- : 1 est safetv, but we must keep an eye | on defence expenditure, and see that tile !• limit of £400,000 was not again exceeded, as had been the case last 1 year. FOR THE WORKEfe. I : • What was the Massey Government' doing for the worker? Some had it that the present Government had no sym- { pathy with the worker. Here in Taranaki all, or nearly all, were workers. The Government realised that the lot of tne worker was a hard one, and that in many instances it was hard going for a man with a family, and every year he felt the pinch more keenly. (Mr Sole: Take it off the foodsufTs). Mr Hine said foodstuffs were not taxed heavily in comparison with the taxation on clothing. He expressed the opinion that the worker on 30s or £2 a week with a family, was contributing to the revenue of the coun- ; try than many were with big incomes, who were exempt-up to £3OO a year. He himself believed in a total' abolition of , the customs duties, and the taxation ! of incomes! and property.(A voice: You're i a single taxer). Well, if that was sin- [ gle tax lie was a single taxer, but the ' single taxer was a man who would tax. 1 land only. Mr Hine referred to the benefit to the workers by the State acturial investigation of the Superannuation Funds and the consequent strengthenings ; of those funds out of the Consolidated Fund, without which assistance these J funds were not actuarily solvent. This I investigation had been refused by the,J previous administration. Then the Rail-1 wav Act of last year had brought in £3.0,000 worth of increased salaries, and allowances in one division alone. So that when it was stated that the Government stood for the wealthy classes; it was fair to tax the author of the statement with reference to these last named !* doings of the Reform Government. MORE LAND. • Coining to the programme for the next j session, Mr lline said the Government I hoped to complete its land legislation. I Lands for Settlement lessees would be i given the right of the freehold. There. ] | was a surprise in store for some of the [' Crown lessees, however, for under the 1 1907 land Act all grazing runs had been J included in national endowment lands, ' which were inalienable, and which must always be leasehold lands. Renewable s louses other than these endowments 1 could be converted into freehold. 1 Another promise to be made good— c there would he no unfulfilled promises when the election came roinid-vvvas in regard to women and the old age pen- q sions. He did not think there would be j any opposition to the Government proposal to reduce to GO years the minimum age for old age pensions to women. The Govern"!!<•••< 1 nut into operation *, its proposal that prisoners unable to pay for counsel should have the services , of counsel Mj their trial. To their lot had been left also the task of providing „ Deiisions for the Maori war veterans, in j. '■ecognition of their services in the early ' j After numerous questions, which will > printed 10-morow) had been asked, j. a very heartr. vote of thanks was accorded Mr Hine for his adress, on the motion of Messrs C. D. Sole and N. J. King.